Overview
The C30-7 is a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems between September 1976 and May 1986. It was developed as an updated version of the U30C and is powered by a 16-cylinder GE FDL-series diesel engine rated at . A total of 1,137 units were built for North American railroads. GE's successor to the C30-7 was the C36-7, and early C36-7 units were closely similar in appearance and design to the C30-7.
C30-7A
A variant of the C30-7, 50 GE C30-7As were purchased by Conrail in mid-1984. Externally similar to the GE C30-7 model, six tall hood doors per side (in place of eight) showed it had a 12-cylinder (rather than 16-cylinder) prime mover. Both engines produced but the C30-7A's smaller engine used less fuel. The C30-7A units were built between May and June 1984.
Use in Estonia and Finland
in 2005. In 2003 19 C30-7As were rebuilt and exported to Estonia as C30-7Ais to be used by EVR (Eesti Raudtee) which at that time was privately owned. The locos were numbered as part of Class 1500 (1558–1576) and were second-hand from Conrail/CSX/NS (USA). In 2018, Operail (formerly EVR Cargo) announced it had completed its first conversion of the series with #1564. International Railway Journal reported, "Only the frames and bogies of the original locomotive were retained and the C30-M features a new centrally-positioned driver’s cab and a 1.55MW Caterpillar 3512C HD diesel engine." The converted unit has a 1524mm track gauge and weighs 138 tonnes. Operail's redesign makes the units suitable for shunting and line haul. The redesigned units are known as C30-M and are planned for internal use and export sales.
Finnish private operator North Rail has bought one C30-M locomotive and is leasing two more for its operations. These are known as class Dr21 in the Finnish classification system.
Preservation
* L&N 7067 is preserved and owned by the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation. This unit was previously painted for Marshall University and numbered 1837. * Brazil's only surviving C30-7A, Rumo Logistca #7202, was restored in time for use on Rumo Logistica's annual Christmas on Rails train in December 2018. This locomotive is one of seven C30-7As built for Brazil.
See also
* Iranian locomotives
References
* * *Diesel Era Volume 3 Number 3 May/June 1992 General Electric C30-7 by Warren Calloway pages 13–34.