STRASBURG, Pa. — The Strasburg Rail Road has acquired another diesel locomotive to bolster its burgeoning freight business. This one is an ex-ATSF SSB-1200, rebuilt from a 1953 EMD SW9. The unit was last in use at the Celanese plant at Narrows, Va.
Currently identified as SRC No. 1235, the locomotive arrived in Lancaster on Sept. 20 and will shortly be delivered by Norfolk Southern to Leaman Place Junction, about a dozen miles east of Lancaster on Amtrak’s Keystone Line.
The unit, in faded Santa Fe dark blue paint, was built in December 1953 as ATSF 1235 and rebuilt at San Bernardino as an SSB-1200 in 1974. Retired in December 1984, it was traded to GE and sold by GE to Celanese Corp. in 1987.
Strasburg currently employs SW8 No. 8618, a former Conrail unit built for the New York Central in 1953, in freight service. When more freight arrives than the SW8 can handle alone, one of the railroad’s three steam locomotives is often called upon to work with the diesel. The new acquisition may end this practice.
Smart move by Strasburg, while I love steam locomotives the efficiency of diesels always win out.
One answer, a diesel can be turned on and off. Steam needs to have fire in boiler to make steam. Takes several hours to bring steam to cold boiler. To have “steam” 24 hours a day would require to have a employee “fire” the engine 24 hours a day.
Why not just use steam all the time?