Kanawha River Terminals #23 - what is it?

[nkalanaga]

This is Kanawha River Terminals #23, in Huntington, WV, a long way from the Kanawha River.  Supposedly it's a GP40-2H.  What did it start out as?  It doesn't look like any GP40-2 I've ever seen.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4085247


Thank you.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It looks like a former VRE (Virginia Railway Express) unit. They were rebuilt (by M&K, I think) to have HEP for pulling and pushing passenger cars. That included new radiators and an HEP generator way in the back, which is why the end of the hood looks like an SD45.

[Mark5]

Originally, it was a C&O (#4096) GP40.

Mark

[sirenwerks]

Reminds me of a GP40X.

[nkalanaga]

Ed:  Thank you.  Yes, that would explain the extra fan, and the space behind the radiators.  NJT had some GP40PHs, with the steam generator/HEP space, but they had conventional radiators.  Either way, kind of a letdown for a passenger unit to end up switching coal cars.

Sirenwerks:  That was my first thought, but the GP40X doesn't have the extra space.  I also thought that, maybe, they just grafted a new set of radiators onto a GP40, but then it should only have three fans. 

Believe it or not, another picture of this same loco, on the same website, identifies it as an SD45-2, which it most certainly is NOT!

[Catt]

Definitely is a interesting critter.I wonder if there are more pictures out there.

[nkalanaga]

There probably aren't many.  It runs along the Ohio River, in Ceredo, WV, near the KY/OH/WV border, and probably isn't seen by most railfans.  Their shops are easy to find, if one knows where to look, and there is a city street right along the tracks, but most people wouldn't get down there.