HO Scale Plastic Model from Athearn Genesis

Part Number: 88667 UP Union Pacific Gas Turbine Engine #65

Key Features:

• Pre-owned model in excellent condition.  We don’t believe this model was ever ran.
• Tracked tested runs very well
• Fully assembled and ready for your layout or display
• DCC-ready wiring harness installed (8 or 9 pin decoder) – Decoder not included
• Two speaker mounting points molded into the underframe, accepting speakers up to 1.20″ in diameter
• Five-pole skew-wound armature motor
• Four inboard axles powered
• Celcon handrails
• Cab interior
• Razor-sharp painting and printing
• McHenry scale knuckle spring couplers installed

Additional Details:

• Factory Painted
• Includes paperwork with diagrams
• Track-tested and runs well
• Directional lights
• Knuckle-style couplers
• Original box included

Overview:

After World War II, GE developed a locomotive with a gas turbine power plant specifically for locomotive use. This gas turbine could burn Bunker “C” fuel oil, a thick, low-grade oil that is a byproduct of crude oil refining. This fuel was both inexpensive and widely available. GE’s gas turbine locomotive was about 20 feet long and generated 4,500 horsepower, three times more than a contemporary diesel engine.

GE completed its test-bed and demonstrator gas turbine locomotive, numbered UP 50, in November 1948. It spent twenty-one months testing on the UP, covering 105,732 miles and moving 349 million gross ton-miles of freight. UP’s first gas turbine, numbered 51 and part of a ten-locomotive order, arrived at the Omaha shops on January 28, 1952. It featured a full car body and a single cab. The first six locomotives had air intakes through banks of screened openings on the sides, while the last four had roof-mounted air intakes.

On December 11, 1952, UP ordered 15 additional 4,500 horsepower gas turbine locomotives, numbered 61 through 75. These “Veranda” turbines, as they were nicknamed, eliminated the side air intakes and featured covered walkways along both sides. Each Veranda turbine carried 7,200 gallons of fuel oil and 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel. In addition to the gas turbine, a 250 horsepower diesel engine was used to move the locomotive around yards, power auxiliaries, and crank the turbine. Each locomotive weighed 551,720 pounds, was over 83 feet long, and stood 15 feet six inches tall. They rode on two sets of span-bolster AAR Type B trucks with a wheel arrangement of B+B-B+B. The gear ratio of 74-18 gave a maximum speed of 65 miles per hour and a starting tractive effort of 137,930 pounds. The gas turbines were also equipped with dynamic brakes.

In October 1955, number 61 was the first 4,500 horsepower turbine to receive a 22,000-gallon fuel tender. Originally assigned to the Ogden, Utah to Cheyenne, Wyoming route, these turbines could run between Ogden and Council Bluffs, Iowa, without refueling after the addition of the tenders. This route remained their primary operating range throughout their careers. The first five Veranda turbines were retired on August 31, 1963, with five more retired by the end of the year, and the remaining five retired by June 30, 1964.