(erielack) C-424/GP-35 use

[Erielack1_@_aol.com]

The Alco C-424 units where assigned to Scranton and Youngstown for local 
service. They had the ability to hold the rail and lug with little slipping. 
They where well suited to hauling molten steel trains, handling a Portland 
Summit up the hill out of Scranton, tackling the grades of the Bangor and 
Portland Branch. The Stroudsburg Drill and the Pen Argyl Drill both rated one 
C-424 unit. So the engineer was running backwards as much as he was running 
forward. 
The C-424 units where moved west in 1974 from Scranton Diesel Shop. I am not 
sure if they where reassigned to Youngstown or Marion diesel shops. When they 
where gone they where replaced with ex-Erie 1200 class GP-7 units. A GP-7 
would pull about two loads less up the hill out of Portland then a C-424. In 
1975 a move was made to replace two GP-7 units with one GP-35. The B&P got a 
P-35 for two or three weeks. This unit was not well suited for this service. 
It could not haul as much tonnage up the hills out of Portland and Martins 
Creek Jct. as two GP-7 units and it slipped a lot. The GP-35 was replaced 
with two GP-7 units. Other locals on the system that did not have heavy 
grades may have been more suitable to using the GP-35 units. Memory is 
leaving me now, but they may have been used on the Bloom. Anyone else 
remember for sure. One would show up on the Stroudsburg Drill from time to 
time. By this time the F-7 units where having high failure rates and they may 
have already been stored around the turntable at Scranton. With the lost of 
F-7 units additional units would have been need to replace them with. The 
GP-35 would have been a logical choice to keep the units assigned to Scranton 
Diesel Shop all EMD. 
Bob Stafford

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