I went to Palmira, Colombia for vacation, and to my surprice, I found a train depot. Obviously, I have no idea what or who made this engines.
nice pictures, john. how did you choose colombia? interesting locomotives there. vacations. i heard of those. dave f.
David, I have friends there. Colombia is beutiful country with delicious tropical fruits that you just cant get in the US.
I wonder... some of them almost look like Fairbanks Morse Trainmasters, but with modifications. Perhaps someone else would know.
The end-cab units are GEs, something between a U5B and U10B. Never did learn how to tell those little engines apart. The larger engine could be an Alco, judging by the radiators. The tiny switcher... no idea.
Triplex, after your hint, I found some pictures of similar engines. The endcab looks like a U10B, and the large engine looks like a U9B. http://www.locopage.net/pau-745.jpg
John, Good to see that you enjoyed Colombia. I spent 4 months in Colombia in the early 80s and have some great memories. It's very difficult to tell the difference between a U9B and a U10B. Take a look at an S scale model of a local U10B on our website: Miscellaneous These little GEs have a Caterpillar diesel of around 1000 hp. In New Zealand they are mainly used for switching but are mainline power on lighter systems. The larger unit appears to be an early GE export unit. GE was building medium power export diesels before thay launched the U25B in the US. That unit looks like some late 50s South African GE models.
Mark, I think a lot people are put off by the war and kidnapping, but I think Colombia is great. I ate a ton of Tropical fruits that you cant find in the U.S. In Colombia, we saw the cathedral thats build inside of the salt mines, fossils of dinosaurs in the exact location where it was found, villages that look exactly like it was a 100 years ago. I am finding that visiting other countries to very interesting. Maybe one of this days, I can make it to New Zealand.
The cathedral is at Zipaquira. I took the steam-hauled train from Bogota. That was early 80s - I have no idea whether it still operates.
I think we established they were GEs. What sort of FMs went to South America? I've never heard of or seen any farther than Mexico.
When New Zealand Railways issued a tender for diesel-electric locomotives in the early 50s a large number of manufacturers responded. FM was one of those so it seems that they were trying to get into the NG/export market. As it happens GM were awarded the tender with their G12A and that was the beginning of a fleet of 146 G12As built in the US, Canada and Australia. Almost all have been scrapped or extensively rebuilt with 645 engines, new cabs, short hoods etc.
There's a book that was published within the past year or two called "La Mula de Fierro", I believe, which is all about Colombia's railroads.
