The Northeast kingdom railroad
Maine Central U18B Locomotives
Web page written and maintained by Mike McNamara
Last Update: July 23, 2010
The Maine Central, looking to replace its aging RS2 and RS3 locomotives to handle increased pulpwood traffic, went locomotive shopping in 1975. Although they were pretty much happy with their EMD locomotives, a good deal was to be had on a batch of 10 General Electric U18B locomotives when the Seaboard Coast Line cancelled one of their orders. The SCL was up to 105 units by this time, the largest purchaser of this locomotive type. The Maine Central numbered the units 400-409.
Because of the upcoming Bicentennial, and the fact that the locomotives were delivered right around the 4th of July in 1975, these locomotives were dubbed the Independence Class. Each unit was named for a Revolutionary War hero or event.
The U18Bs were relatively small compared to the trends of bigger and higher horsepower being produced in the 1970s. These were 4 axle 1800hp units, 200 less horsepower than the GP38s acquired 9 years prior. The U18Bs rode on refurbished EMD Blomberg trucks, making them visually different than most other GE units on the rails.
The U18Bs were delivered to the Maine Central in St. Johnsbury, VT. However, in order to take advantage of New Hampshire’s non-sales tax, the units were actually started up and “put into operation” at Whitefield, NH.
The ten units roamed the system, but a few units would usually be in service out of Rigby yard for the Mountain Division trains, operating with the GP38s and an occasional GP7 or RS11.
As delivered, the units featured an eagle emblem in gold on the nose. After some years of service, a number of the units were shopped and repainted, and the emblem was switched to the basic pine tree logo.
The U18Bs soldiered on into the Guilford era and operated into the 1990s. Units were slowly painted into Guilford gray. All units are now retired, with most scrapped, however 2 units are still in existence, currently unused outside of Montreal.
Locomotive names:
-
•400 - General Henry Knox
-
•401 - Hannah Weston
-
•402 - General John Stark
-
•403 - General Peleg Wadsworth
-
•404 - Kenneth Roberts
-
•405 - Arundel
-
•406 - Colonel John Allan
-
•407 - Unity
-
•408 - Battle Of Bagaduce
-
•409 - Ethan Allen
More Info:
Fall 2007 issue of Railroad Explorer
Dec. 1991 and Jan. 1992 issues of Mainline Modeler
More Photos:
>> Back To Locomotives main page
>> Back To Maine Central main page
Unit 402 is seen leading train RY-2 through Bartlett NH in September of 1976, crossing Route 302 in the White Mountains. RR Picture Archives photo.
In July 1983, I caught one of the U18Bs that was repainted by Guilford already. The big paper mill at Rumford had 408 along with a larger U25B on an inbound train.
As delivered the locomotives had a gold eagle logo in the Bicentennial spirit as seen on unit 403. The front striping matched the harvest gold body paint.
Locomotives 404 and 407 were sold from Guilford and leased to the Niagra & Western NY, a tourist line in upper NY state. This was short lived however and now the locomotives are out of service stored in Montreal. NERAIL photo.
A good look at the rear of the units as seen here on the 400. This was the as-delivered scheme. When repainted, the rectangular logo was changed to the simple pine tree logo, as seen at the top of the page on the 402. NERAIL photo.
Locomotive 401 is seen in good light with nice view of end. A little beat up by the time of this photo, Spring 1989, in Erving MA. NERAIL photo.
It is 1988 and well into the Guilford era, but the 403 is still in original paint, although the eagle emblem has peeled away. This is in Lawrence, MA. NERAIL photo.
Here is a good look at the U18Bs as they were painted by Guilford. This paint was about 12 years oldie this 1996 photo at Northern Maine Jct. RR Picture Archives photo.
Locomotive 409 begins the assault on the White Mountains as it heads through Glen, NH on train RY-2 bound for St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Railroad.net photo.
