| Last updated on November 3, 2020
Get our weekly newsletter delivered to your inbox
•YEARS BUILT: 1963-1965, 1969-1971
•MANUFACTURER: General Electric
•OPERATED ON: Union Pacific, Southern Pacific
•NAMES: U50 and U50C; nicknames, Twin Diesels, Double Diesels, Whirlybirds, Choppers, Stalkcutters, Rock Crushers
•QUANTITY: 66
•HORSEPOWER: 5,000
•KNOWN FOR: Large cab with curved nose; long and loud
•STATUS: All were scrapped
Members enjoy 15% off any purchase in our store. Join Today!
How Diesel and Electric Locomotives Work
After reading this book, you will understand what is happening inside the next locomotive you see!
Great American Steam Locomotives: Articulateds DVD
Articulateds capture the heart and minds of anyone who comes out to see them.
Who wrote these? Similarities: GE, Double Diesel, big round nose. Not the same: running gear (U50 bridged B-B trucks, U50C C-C trucks both from retired turbine units). Mechanical layouts, U50 radiators at each end of the car body, U50C has radiators in the center. Of course the cooper-bessmer diesel engines were different as well. SP only had U50s, U50C was exclusively a UP locomotive.
Must have been some kind of view out the forward windshield, and then the cab occupants would be first on the scene of an accident……………