Re: Newest Narrow Gauge Loco

I've read this thread with interest. While the question that touched off the discussion about recent narrow-gauge locomotive construction focused on steam, it's interesting to note that one major US builder (GE) was outshopping 2-foot gauge diesel-electrics as late as 1974. The twenty 380-hp units (designated Model U6 are baby versions of a GE standard-gauge road unit, not shrunken 44-tonners, like the pair of 2-footers GE built in 1949 for an industrial user in Rhode Island. The U6B's were designed for heavy traffic on a 177-mile South African Railways line linking Port Elizabeth and Avontuur in Eastern Cape Province. They have CAT turbo-charged D375 8-cyliner primer movers and are MU equipped. All but one of the "baby U-boats" remain on the SAR roster (Class 91), but the future for these unique locomotives is bleak. They're liable to go the way of the 2-8-2's they displaced. Traffic on the Avontuur line and a connecting branch to Patensie branch has pretty-much dried up. Friends in South Africa say the GE's now see little use except for a seasonal fruit traffic rush.
I remember standing at a crossing watching a three-unit lashup the GE's handle a heavy limestone train up the 1 in 40 grade out of Loerie in the late 1980's. It's a sight I won't forget -- modern power working flat out trailed by steel roller bearing-equipped gons on rails a mere 24 inches apart. That scene is gone for good.