Roster Review: D&H U33Cs in 1984

#761 (October 21, 1977)

The D&H didn't own many General Electric U-boat engines (just three classes) and only the U33Cs lasted until 1984. The D&H acquired fourteen U33C engines between 1969 and 1970. The first three, #751-753, were acquired from the Erie Lackwanna in a trade which sent the D&H's three SD45s to the E.L. The engines had never fit into the D&H scheme and it was considered a good trade. Ironically, in late 1975 the D&H traded back the three U33C engines to the E.L.! They were through several patch paint schemes but since they never lasted until 1984 I won't discuss them anymore here.

#756 (March 08, 1981)

Engines #754-762 were purchased new from General Electric. They could be found system wide pulling all sorts of freight trains, but they usually were based in the Pennsylvania Division. They rarely made it up to Colonie except for maintenance. In the late 1970s, the D&H finished purging most of the six-axle engines from its roster by selling off some to Mexico but it decided to keep the U33Cs. They continued to serve as pushers until most of them were placed in storage at Colonie. The remainder, usually #755, #756, #761, and #762, were used as pushers over Belden Hill. They continued this service into 1984.

The engines originally were all painted in the standard lightning stripe paint scheme with "Delaware & Hudson" spelled out in small letters along the side. Sometime, probably in the late 1970s under Dereco, they also received small engine numbers below the lettering on the sides. It appears that one engine, #757, kept this scheme throughout its career. I have seen pictures of it without the numbers on the sides but at earlier in its career it had them so I assume that they just faded or wore away. In 1974 it was involved in a roundhouse fire in Binghamton and was rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen, who used a different long hood which had different door latches and added a nose Gyralite. Since this was not one of the engines regularly used in the 1980s the D&H probably didn't see fit to repaint it with large numbers.

#759 (August 04, 1985)

Engines #754, #755, #756, #759, #760, #761, and #762 were all later updated in the early 1980s with larger numbers on the sides of their hood. Sometimes, entire patches of the hood were repainted gray first and then the larger numbers were applied. Other times, only the lettering and small numbers themselves were patched out (as if someone used gray decal film to block the offending lettering... hint hint for modelers) and then the large numbers were painted over it. These engines kept this scheme until the end, though like all other lightning stripe scheme locomotives they looked pretty grungy in their later years.

#758 (January 06, 1980)

Finally, what would the D&H be without at least one oddity? Engine #758 was unique in the class in that it received the Zebra stripe scheme in either late 1979 or early 1980. Why they chose this engine and this engine alone is unknown, but perhaps it was already in Colonie for a major engine repair or rehab and they repainted it then. Despite the fact that I adjusted the color of the slide a little, the engine still looks pretty good in this picture. Based on pictures I have seen online, by May of 1980 it already was looking pretty grubby. That is a shame, as I think it really stands out well with the yellow on blue.

The entire class lasted into Guilford in 1988 when they all were finally retired and scrapped or sold in 1988. Also, in 1985 Guilford purchased additional U33C engines (#650-656) but they are outside the scope of this review.