TMB F607 MF901 Tapiales 091100
GEs old and new on the metre gauge Metropolitano run (back then) 'Belgrano' commuter lines to the Southwest of Buenos Aires. U12C F607 & U20C MF901 on the 'patio' at Tapiales in November 2000.
The 1958/59 vintage U12s are ferocious little beasts and quite possibly the only locos in the World to have been improved (in the audio department, anyway) by the addition of FIAT equipment - they're as loud as hell. Their original V8 Cooper-Bessemer FVBL 8T power units being replaced by the FIAT A230/8 model, itself a copy of a V8 C-B/GE/ALCo engine anyway! Apparently there was nothing much wrong with the originals and, much like the GAIA debacle, the re-engining had more to do with lining the pockets of corrupt officials in Argentina and Italy than engineering necessity.
The U20 is one of two that TMB (Transporte Metropolitano Belgrano Sur) acquired in 1995, part of a cancelled order originally intended for Bolivia. Built in Brazil in 1994 by GEVISA (General Electric Villares SA) they have a 12-cylinder FDL engine and sound good flat out - but, presumably as a fuel saving feature, take forever to reach full load. And that doesn't happen often as the line speeds are relatively poor (~80 kph) and loads light. They'd have been much better suited to Metropolitano's other, broad gauge, lines.
Due to the poor condition and near collapse of services (precipitated by the severe financial crisis at the turn of the millennium) Metropolitano was taken over by UGOFE (Unidad de Gestión Operativa Ferroviaria de Emergencia) - a government backed consortium of successful private operators - in May 2007.
A few of the little 'U-Boats' are still in service in 2012!
TMB F607 MF901 Tapiales 091100
GEs old and new on the metre gauge Metropolitano run (back then) 'Belgrano' commuter lines to the Southwest of Buenos Aires. U12C F607 & U20C MF901 on the 'patio' at Tapiales in November 2000.
The 1958/59 vintage U12s are ferocious little beasts and quite possibly the only locos in the World to have been improved (in the audio department, anyway) by the addition of FIAT equipment - they're as loud as hell. Their original V8 Cooper-Bessemer FVBL 8T power units being replaced by the FIAT A230/8 model, itself a copy of a V8 C-B/GE/ALCo engine anyway! Apparently there was nothing much wrong with the originals and, much like the GAIA debacle, the re-engining had more to do with lining the pockets of corrupt officials in Argentina and Italy than engineering necessity.
The U20 is one of two that TMB (Transporte Metropolitano Belgrano Sur) acquired in 1995, part of a cancelled order originally intended for Bolivia. Built in Brazil in 1994 by GEVISA (General Electric Villares SA) they have a 12-cylinder FDL engine and sound good flat out - but, presumably as a fuel saving feature, take forever to reach full load. And that doesn't happen often as the line speeds are relatively poor (~80 kph) and loads light. They'd have been much better suited to Metropolitano's other, broad gauge, lines.
Due to the poor condition and near collapse of services (precipitated by the severe financial crisis at the turn of the millennium) Metropolitano was taken over by UGOFE (Unidad de Gestión Operativa Ferroviaria de Emergencia) - a government backed consortium of successful private operators - in May 2007.
A few of the little 'U-Boats' are still in service in 2012!