News & Reviews News Wire Brazilian group saves GE C30-7A NEWSWIRE

Brazilian group saves GE C30-7A NEWSWIRE

By Angela Cotey | July 24, 2018

| Last updated on November 3, 2020


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C307A
A GE-made Brazilian C30-7A that will be saved thanks to efforts of local volunteers.
Contributed photo
ARARAQUARA, São Paulo, Brazil — A South American preservation group has teamed up with Brazil’s largest railroad to save the country’s only surviving General Electric C30-7A locomotive. Earlier in July, the Regional Sul de Minas Chapter of the Brazilian Association of Railroad Preservation agreed to purchase Rumo Logistica No. 7202. The locomotive was owned by a recycling company after being retired in 2017.

The locomotive is one of seven C30-7As built for Brazil, according to Volunteer Bruno Crivelari Sanches. Conrail also owned C30-7As. The locomotive differs from the GE C30-7 because it has 12 cylinders instead of 16 cylinders. Crivelari Sanches tells Trains News Wire his group believes No. 7202 is the only locomotive of its type to be preserved. No C30-7s or C30-7As have been preserved in the United States, although the New Hope & Ivyland owns and operates one in Pennsylvania.

“This engine is important because it is the last one of its generation,” Crivelari Sanches says.

The locomotive has been sent to Rumo Logistica’s locomotive shop in Araraquara for a complete rebuild. The group will be looking for opportunities to run the locomotive once the restoration is complete.

11 thoughts on “Brazilian group saves GE C30-7A NEWSWIRE

  1. I think LS&I runs AC4400CW’s and a couple U30C’s. And we are tripping over terms. There is a C30-7 in the US, so there are 2 still existing. Call it what you will, Brazil’s will be operational as well, so then is it preserved or operational.

  2. Several C30-7A units originally owned by Conrail were re-gaged for use in Estonia. Many are still in service and are equipped with Williston couplers and the GE BrightStar control system.

  3. Richard; There is a difference between operating and preserving. Conrail operated C30-7A’s, but none of them have been preserved. Do you know of any plans to “preserve” the New Hope & Ivyland unit after the railroad is finished with it?

  4. “No C30-7s or C30-7As have been preserved in the United States, although the New Hope & Ivyland owns and operates one in Pennsylvania.” So where is Pennsylvania located???? Whatever happened to proofreading?

  5. Richard R. Erickson

    Is there a difference between an engine used for revenue service and one that is used for historical interpretation or display? I believe the New Hope unit has been in continued service since it was built, which therefore does not make it a preserved unit, it makes it an active unit. Preserved usually mean it was once in service and is no longer in service but has been saved from destruction/scrapping.

  6. Perhaps the terms are used differently within the “preservation community,” but to me anything surviving (and not left derelict or abandoned) beyond its normal, expected life is “preserved,” whether it operates or not. The Durango & Silverton and the Cumbres & Toltec are to me prime examples of preserved rail operations; the fact that they still actually operate on a regular basis is a big plus. Other “preserved” examples that operate occasionally would be Friends of the 261 Milwaukee 4-8-4, Superdome, and Skytop Parlor, and the UP’s steam locos, E-units, Centennial, and passenger consist. And this list of “preserved, operable” equipment could go on and on and on … . When a “stuffed and mounted” preserved but inoperable piece of equipment is restored to operation, generally there is much rejoicing among railfans, and this doesn’t seem to remove the item from its “preserved” status.

    Of course things that have been preserved (and even operated recently) can be scrapped, as witness what happened recently in Indiana.

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