D&H Geep #573

For much of its early diesel years, the D&H was an all Alco railroad. There was good reason for this, as Alco was a customer and any maintenance questions could easily be resolved with a call or a quick drive over to Schenectady. It was awhile before they started buying EMDs, but even then it was just a trio of SD45 engines. They weren't popular, perhaps because they were the odd step-children of the roster, and were later transferred to the Erie Lackawanna (during a period of mutual control by the N&W). Later GP38-2s and GP39-2s came during the early 1970s. However, the D&H never owned any first generation EMD units like Geep 7/9s or F units. Or did they? 

I suppose it depends on how you define "D&H" but when Guilford bought it and swapped engines on the three railroad's (D&H, B&M, and Maine Central) combined rosters things got interesting. At times, too interesting. But, the D&H ended up with at least a couple high-nose Geeps. A picture of #569 is at the bottom of this post. An extensive history of #573 can be found here. The picture above is dated January 01, 1984, and it shows that Guilford's two regular passenger engines (#573 & #251) also earned their keep pulling revenue freight even during the cold winters. Brrrr...