Maine Central U18B Locomotives

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.

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

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 a few units found new homes. The 404 and 407 were leased to the Niagra & Western in 2002 before being sold to RTEX a year later and stored out of service near Montreal.




Locomotive 400 is seen leading 3 other U18Bs with train RY-2 at Crawford Notch shortly after being delivered, looking very clean. July 1975. RRPictures.net photo.


Locomotive 401 is seen in good light with nice view of end. The original paint is a little beat up and faded by the time of this photo, Spring 1989, in Erving MA. NERAIL photo.


The 402 is seen in the successor paint scheme to the as delivered paint. Gone is the eagles on the nose, replaced by the simplified round pine tree logo, which was also applied to the rear end. The ends have white striping instead of the original harvest gold. Ditch lights and a white strobe on the cab roof have been added as well in this 1981 view. RRPictures.net photo.


A well lit 403 showing the Blomberg trucks. RRPictures.net photo.


The 404 is catching late afternoon sun as it crosses Route 302 in Bartlett New Hampshire running light with another U18B. The green MEC roundhouse at Bartlett sits in the background unused. RRPictures.net photo.


It's 1990 and the 405 is still in original paint in the Guilford years. Note the faint outline of the eagle logo on the nose. RRPictures.net photo.


Here is a good look at the U18Bs as painted by Guilford. This paint was fairly new in this 1984 picture from Rigby yard. Note the added ditch lights and strobe light. NERAIL photo.


407 in what was the usual look in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a little dirty but still looking sharp.


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.


The 409 leads train YR-1 from St. Johnsbury to Portland, stopping at the ball signal in Whitefield NH in August 1981. This is the crossing of the Boston & Maine branch to the paper mills in Groveton and Berlin. RRPictures.net photo.