In retrospect the BL2 has a real slick art deco look to it which I like. It's interesting how the failure of the BL2 gave rise to one of the most successful families of locomotives ever made, the GP's. It's still too bad about Alco's cursed prime mover. the RS series still offered better visibility than the GP's due to the shorter height long hood. Thanks for putting this video together!

@samueladams7

Жыл бұрын

Definitely an Art-Deco like design from the 20-30's. Has a "Tank-like" look side view. I got to se one of these in action on the now defunct Saratoga & North Creek Railway during 2011-2018. The SNC had two of them but only one was working. Sad to see them go.

@theincrediblehulk5797

Жыл бұрын

@@samueladams7 this locomotive is then one of my favorite because I love anything Art Deco

@Trains-With-Shane

Жыл бұрын

@@samueladams7 Would love to see one. I know there are a few (few as in maybe like 2) that still are in running condition. But I think they're all up north or in New England. Bangor and Aroostook has one that was running but I think it's just on static display now.

The part I didn't hear was that EMD made all of its parts in-house in an extreme example of industrial vertical integration. GM ran the process from getting raw materials processed through every piece of the locomotive, where Baldwin and Alco were buying from subs who had no investment in the success of the product or accountability for product failure. Once GM achieved market dominance only a GE could take them on because GE could fabricate frames, cast iron for engine blocks, wind motors and generators/alternators, and develop control systems. Alco and Baldwin couldn't integrate like that, and foreign makers had a tough time bringing their products into US markets until the 1980s. Once GE became a finance company more than a manufacturer the game changed again.

@williamjones4483

Жыл бұрын

When Union Pacific commissioned EMD to build its DDA40X locomotives for its Centennial EMD had to contract the building of the locomotive frames to the John Mohr Company of Chicago because at 98 feet long EMD's factory could not accommodate the manufacturing of these frames.

I’ve always enjoyed the BL-2 look and had several operating on my road for many years. They just won’t wear out, but we’re joined by other EMD units as time passed. As long as EMD makes repair parts for my older locos, my road will keep operating them.

@garyolsen3409

Жыл бұрын

Can you actually compare the Bl2 look with a stream lined sleek look of the F unit?

the bl2....the studebaker of diesel locos!... I like both!

I got to see 2 of these when they were stored on the Battenkill definitely unique they are now down south being restored to service thankfully

"..and VIOLA, you have a..." I assume you mean "voila", pronounced "vwah-LAH"....

@desweds

3 ай бұрын

Yes. Please fix this.

@alexclement7221

3 ай бұрын

@@desweds Either that, or his violin is just too small....

I'm astonished that anyone would see the BL2 as an "ugly duckling". As an Englishman, I always thought of the BL2 as one of the best looking of American locomotives. After watching this documentary I can see how it wasn't very practical, but, as far as looks are concerned, it was beautiful.

With the EMD BL2 they basically took all the working room that you had in an F unit away plus they gave it a week under frame which is why you always see them in a leading position. They probably would have looked better with a set of tail fins.

In EMDs defense, company’s discarding competitors designs is nothing new. It’s actually kinda funny how often they’re right.

I have always liked the look of the BL2. Too bad it didn't last. Thanks for sharing. 👍👍👍

don't forget that during WWII manufactures had been limited as to what the could develop build and sell

I live in Hagerstown MD and the Western Maryland railroad have one BL2 and a slug assigned to the yard there. To me as a young boy it was a great locomotive set.

@RussDooWop

Жыл бұрын

I was at South Potomac Junior HS in about 1968. I could sit in class and look out the window an see the BL2 and slug switching. Also in about 1960, I spent some nights at Grandma's house in Oak Ridge, near the yard. I remember lying there and hearing the GP's with there 567's kicking cars. I love that sound.

There's also a BL2 locomotive still running scenic trains out of Elkins WV. I think it's a pretty neat locomotive. The one there in Elkins was one of two owned by the Western Maryland RR.

@davidmorris7696

Жыл бұрын

I rode that excursion this past summer!

BL-1&2 are basically Borden milk tank cars with cabs and engine parts. Cass had one which now runs out of another area but found out how under powered it was to climb the tracks at Cass. While a Shay might take 6 cars up the hill, the WM BL-2 could barely do two. As WM Shay #6 was used for the run from Cass to Durbin, it did not get much use there. Now with the runs out of Elkins, it is back on home turf.

the other reason why they were called "covered wagons" , if you look at 6 lashed together, they look like a small wagon train, that are hooked up close lol.

Hey! Stop badmouthing, EMD! 🤣 I KID YOU! This was great information.

I think they are handsome in there own way. A face only a Engineer/ Designing or Operator could love . Understanding how to run it and it capacity. Just like a mother of what should be a Swan. If you care about your product do the work and love your work to care about it enough do it well.

They're not ugly at all! I think they're beautiful. Impractical maybe, but ugly? No!

Hey look, something I recommend becomes a video, nice

You have to do a documentary on the GE!!! This would be so interested considering u boats were seen as junk in the 60s. Everyone loves a underdog story and I think that would turn out to be your biggest garner of views and subs yet. I really do love these documentaries you put together. All the extra detail makes it’s much more interesting than the rest who try and do the same.

They still had two of these on the Mopac line back in the 80s that were sitting in the 13th Street Station yard in St Louis I remember them sitting there rusting Hulks and wondering why they didn't get used at the time I was working on EMD 45s at the 13th Street Station with Mopac before the very end of the Missouri Pacific lines those were the days

I actually really like the design of the EMD Bl2 personally.

@littleteapot132

Жыл бұрын

im sure emd clapped back with emd sd40-2

The Western Maryland had 2 (81,82) lashed up to slugs. Somehow they were used in yard duties until the road was subsumed into Chessie. 81 with slug is at the B&O museum. 82 is, I think, still operating at Cass Scenic Railroad.

@Lanetrainz

Жыл бұрын

82 is not at cass it is operated by a railroad next to cass which is called the West Virginia Central.

Super. I've always liked the BL-2, but I would have a hard time justifying one on my model railroad, even though Lifelike's HO version is an incredible locomotive. Hello from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

That really was a terrible locomotive. A rushed effort to counter act ALCO, and EMD ended up with something that didn't do anything particularly well, made worse by the difficulty in servicing it. Great presentation.

I like the BL2, i have the proto 2000 in WM on a side track right in between a Baldwin DR-12-8-1500/2 & a T-1 4-4-4-4, SP cab forward , UP bigboy & a 6-pack of DDA-40X. Yes i like big steam & diesel.

For some reason I like the BL-2.

Eh, i like the BL2 its a nice little branchline diesel.

There was a BL1 demonstrator that was eventually purchased by the Chicago and Eastern Illinois along with a BL2. I would be interesting to find out what locomotives the BLs running gear and engines ended up in.

KRM has a black & gold Monon BL2 and I've never thought it was ugly at all. On the contrary, it looks great. They also use theirs on their excursions occasionally. Then again I once owned a '59 Edsel too though...

They had some real nightmares before they figured it out!

@25mfd

Жыл бұрын

HA... they did indeed

haha to my eyes practically all trains with the exception of some bullet trains look so sad and dark it's like they crawled straight out from the pages of 1984 😂 and there's some weird beauty in this ugliness.

@HoosierDaddy_

Жыл бұрын

I used to call E & F series EMD locomotives "sad eye trains" as a kid, lol

@Eye_Exist

Жыл бұрын

@@HoosierDaddy_ they have that look as if they just left their all loved ones behind

Yeah…BL2’s may have been undesirable in the real world. But, for my railroad BL2’s are the star! For almost every aspect of work. It’s the look of them, I suppose, that makes them my preferred choice. Right next to them in choice of locomotive power are the “GEEPs” and “UBoats” of various sizes. Good video!

The ones the Bangor and Aroostook had, were upgraded significantly after 3 years of ownership. The units quickly became crew favorites due to the smooth ride and the pulling abilities. The favorite set up for road jobs was a F3 on one end a geep in the middle and a BL-2 on the head end. BAR kept them in service until the early 90’s when they were finally replaced by GP38 rebuilds. Two had the ballast removed for a branch with a lightly built trestle without sacrificing much tractive effort. No other units could be modified to operate on that line without sacrificing tractive effort.

@NorthernMaineProductions

Жыл бұрын

It was actually the BAR F3 units the Engineers loved, Most of the old guys I knew Liked to have an F3 on the head end with Bl2s and Geeps following , The BL2 was known for its low center of gravity and better traction than the other models as far as I know the only significant upgrade the Bl2s Ever Got were the nose mounted bell and possibly updated engine blocks early on , The Bl2 were all out of service by the mid 1980s #54 was the last one in active service and was sold to the SBRR in 1986 , the 557 sat around broke down and out of service from about 1981 until it was donated and moved to the Coles Museum in 1989 51 was scrapped in 1994, 53 was demolished in 1972, 55 was scrapped at some point in time 52 and 56 were sold to Glen Mohart in the very early 90s , But what I do Know is they were not loved at all for their Comfort engineers hated them actually they complained of them being very cold in the sub artic cold winters of northern Maine and of course the Mechanical Crew hated working on them, it was #51 and #56 that had their ballast weights removed to operate on the Greenville branch , Its sad there are none of them left here in Maine I loved to see them when i was a kid and I loved the Leslie A200 Horns

Addendum: The correct internal frame was similar to the F series: truss and batton construction, which made servicing heavy repairs difficult and cost ineffective.

The VW Beetle of the locomotive world. Ugly but practical.

BL2 was known as branch line locomotive. Made special for branch line duty.

The positive note about the BL2 is that it was an example of how not to build a locomotive.

Your breakdown is top.

EMD has a T4 SD70AH released around 2015. Union Pacific and CSX are the only railroads to buy them for some reason currently

now every locomotive from the last 60 years, except explicitly passenger ones are road switchers

EMD was concerned about patent infringement on the General Steel Castings frames, which led to the use of a truss frame on the BL2.

as a kid....I had a ho. scale. bl2 loco. it wore the Monon logos!

I grew up with the C&O BL2 in Muskegon Mich.

The Bl-2 engine would look at home today. It sure looks better than a P-42 crackerbox. The real weakness of these engines as they were never intended to be M-U'd. The batton framing would break and needed to be re-welded. Western Maryland did that alot. They also limited their market potential by dedicating them to branch line service. Having passenger capability available, they really could have done a lot better. It would be a great commuter engine.

Truly I Truly Think THE BL2 DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE . . . . LOOKS GREAT .

I love the BL2's their so unique and splendid looking

The Saratoga BL2 now operates in North Judson,IN.

hot take, looks better than any Geep

The EMD bl2 is basically the culmination of everything wrong with early EMD. Their arrogance when dealing with ALCo and Baldwin, coupled with the rigid nature of the cab unit, made the bl2 the worst American diesel locomotive to be built up until the construction of the sdp40f.

First EMD had prewar roadswitchers E.G. NW-3 &NW-4 . The RS-1 was not much of a prewar design either as it dates to 1942 with the first 4 being taken by the government from the Rock Island and being re-trucked for service in Iran. In addition the NW-5 was introduced in 1945 but didn't sell many copies before EMD got hit with a strike and after that it was not marketed as EMD had its hands full building cab units . This is what lead to the Cleveland plant building the SW-1 and NW-2s.

@alcobufff

11 ай бұрын

While your correct that the NW-3 could be used as a road switcher, it was marketed as a passenger terminal switcher by EMD, this is to say for mainly moving coaches around the yards and into stations and for occasional passenger service on the main. That said, the GN, who ordered them, Used them, mostly, on a mixed passenger run. Thanks for watching!

Yep, the BL2 definitely looked more like a basset hound than a locomotive had any right to, but as the prior poster pointed out, it was an interesting locomotive. Having grown up in BL2 country (Michigan's "thumb" area), I'm pretty sure the first train I can remember seeing was pulled by a BL2. C&O had far and away the largest fleet of them, and due to their light axle loading, made extensive use of them in rural Michigan where the rails and bridges were also very light. It's also interesting to note that they were actually ordered by the Pere Marquette, but delivered to the C&O post-merger.

Not sure how GE can hold the lion's share of diesel production as it sold its diesel locomotive division to Wabtec in 2018

The BL2 reminds me of a sandwich box. It should have been called the BLT.😅😅😅

@alcobufff

Жыл бұрын

Hmm I wonder if GM included fries with it? 😊

@apollosaturn5

Жыл бұрын

​@@alcobufffSorry, that's going to cost you extra.

Is it true some of these had dual controls?

(These remind me of that They are the Diesel engine version of the Southern UK Q1's but different)

As I understand it, the E and F units offered enough internal space to do maintenance inside, protected from the weather. The engine could be checked even while the train was moving. The GP and SD had plenty of access doors to do maintenance from the side walkways. I have never seen an inside view of the BL, can anybody help out with that? I assume that the interior space was seriously restricted, making maintenance more difficult than either the full-width body or the narrow-hood units.

What does 4 year is it lasted.

Bachmann is doing a BL2 in ho scale,not sure why the old Proto 2000 is a decent model.

@therailfanman2078

Жыл бұрын

Wish bachmann would make a BAR paint scheme

Thanks for the info, no thank you for the camera work.

You really belabor the notion and the impact of the ugly duckling. It has a unique look and I like it. I doubt the public would have objected to it's appearance at the front of a train. Otherwise informative video.

I was looking at one in N scale. Nyc. It's just black but I'll put the nyc system cigar stripe on it. It is hideous to look at. But something different I guess. Idk now seeing this I might pass. Lol

I say nothing as ugly as today’s locomotives. This one I think is not as ugly.

jumpscare 8:47

TRULY I TRULY BELIEVE IN MY OPINION , THE BL2 DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE LOOKS GREAT AND HAS A REALLY NEAT BODY STYLE .

The script sounds like it was written by a 3rd grader. Those regards? Inhinderance? Much less powered? Where'd this guy go to school?

Nice curved & 3 way turnouts on your layout! You should really clean up the junk, though

Eh? A mutated F-Unit ???

It is pretty not ugly

You got the wrong information about GE. GE built one of the first diesel locomotive back in 1928-1930. Check your information before stating things. And the bl2:is the second model of the same engine. The first was the bl1.

@alcobufff

4 ай бұрын

The locomotive that you are referring to, is actually an alco box cab locomotive called the 60 ton. GE did not build it. Instead, GE provided the electronics for these locomotives to alco who actually built them, with prime movers by Ingersoll/rand. I also note at 13:30 that alco and GE were partners in locomotive production, till the U-boats came out. The first GE locomotive built by the company, was the 20-ton boxcar switcher in 1938, with a prime mover by Cummins, this was not a road loco and only a side project like the rest of the company's small industrial switchers, not road switcher locomotives or export models. only 5 were built. The company would only start with domestic road switchers till the late 50's. As for the BL1 , only a single proto type was made that was later used a a demo locomotive, it was never in production.

It wasn't that ugly

your choppy narrative ruins this presentation.

Violá ? French, pronouned "vwah-lah".... Respectfully, just being helpful- not busting your stones. 🚬😎👍

Please do noy pause for so long mid sentence. A 12 yo child could read better.

What Viola

Huh