> I believe that there is a 44 ton Diesel Locomotive at the Loop.
>Perhaps #21 from Colorado Fuel & Iron in the 1980s.
>I have it as ex CFI 21, blt. 5/1957, s/n 32970.
s/n 32971 was part of the same order and actually shipped a few days earlier - I assume became the #22 and should have been identical.
I am guessing that CF&I discontinued its narrow gauge operations circa 2000, maybe earlier? CHS arranged for CF&I to rebuild the #21 with newer design Cummins rebuilt engines, adding couplers and train air brakes - arrived at the Loop in April or May of 2005. There was also a GE 25 ton that was also supposed to be rebuilt, but I'm not sure why it didn't ever make it to the Loop - still/now at the museum in Pueblo?
The #21 is not a "44 ton" catalog model, it just happens to weigh 44 tons (maybe actually 45 tons now).
A GE catalog standard 44 ton would be model B-B 88/88 4GE733 with a pair of Cat D17000 engines at either 380/330 or 400/350 hp (though a were built with other engines). Because of the way the traction motors and double reduction gear cases mounted, the narrow gauge version was actually the "47 ton" model that used articulated/draft trucks and was model B+B 94/94 4GE733 (with a few 4GE747) - C&TS #15 and #19 are examples. (The 44 ton design was developed in part because of a court ruling allowing an engine under 45 tons to be run without a fireman, so many union railroads purchased them for light switching and branchline use.) There was also a military "45 ton drop cab" and a common export model that was a 44 ton modified with a lower cab and larger diameter wheels.
#21 is actually a factory modified second-generation standard catalog "50 ton" model designed and sold primarily for steel mill use. The original model was a B 100/100 2GE741 (2 axles both with traction motors, the GE741 a heavier capacity motor than the 733). It used the same Cummins HBI engines (300/260 total hp) and electrical system (except traction motors) as the standard catalog "45 ton" B-B 90/90 2GE733 which only had one traction motor per truck and connected the other axle with siderods or a chain drive. A standard option on this was ballasting to 50 tons, and there was also a common B+B version of varying weights typically called a "Steel Mill Special" (the Loop got one from Roaring Camp a few years ago - never used as of yet?). #21 would be a B 88/88 2GE763 (the GE763 being an updated model of the GE733 replacing it and the GE741).
The standard "44 ton" used a different main generator and excitation system running at 1000 rpm compared to the other engines with Cummins at 1800 rpm. This was about the time that GE's catalog for both foreign and domestic models saw a substantial shift - the export 50/52 ton (SP#1 and SVRR #720) and shovelnose designs were replaced by the Universal line, and the Universal line expanded to domestic production with the U25B, the 44 and 70 ton designs were discontinued due to lack of demand for a light road engine in North America, the "50 ton" for steel mill use was dropped from the catalog - though the "45 ton" in an updated design was still available ballasted to 50 tons. For a little while the advertised "50 ton" was a 2-axle single engine end cab design (all standard gauge?) and the last was an SL-50 B-B end cab for transit use (New York Subway still uses them on work trains). GE Industrial/small design production ended by the early 1990s though Brazil may have continued producing them. GE does still build narrow gauge locomotives, but like North American production these are all large road designs.
Designating a small GE locomotive by weight is common practice - but there can be a huge variation between engines of the same weight in general design, diesel prime mover, traction motor capacity and maximum speed. The actual weight of a locomotive may mean it was a custom model, a common or cataolog model perhaps modified. Steel mill units and ones designed primarily for switching tend to be very heavy compared to horsepower designed to provide the maximum starting tractive effort and low speed operation (15-20 mph maximum). By comparison, light road units and the Universal line tend to have a higher HP to weight ratio and capable of much faster speeds (typically at least 35 mph or more). Extra weight does not always equate to greater pulling power at the desired speed.
