The SD20-2 was a type of diesel-electric locomotive created in 1979/1980 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 by rebuilding EMD SD35

EMD SD35

An EMD SD35 is a 6-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between June 1964 and January 1966. Power was provided by an EMD 567D3A 16-cylinder engine which generated . A fuel tank was used on this unit. This locomotive model shared a common frame with the EMD SD28,...

 locomotives. Five of the B&O's SD35 fleet were rebuilt at their Cumberland Yard by fitting a non-turbocharged

Turbocharger

A turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...

 EMD 645

EMD 645

The EMD 645 family of diesel engines was designed and manufactured by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. Intended primarily for locomotive, marine and stationary engine use, one 16-cylinder version powered the 33-19 "Titan" prototype haul truck designed by GM's Terex...

 engine and upgraded electrical systems. They were placed in service at the B&O Queensgate Yard in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

 attached to slug

Slug (railroad)

A railroad slug is an accessory to a diesel-electric locomotive. It has trucks with traction motors but is unable to move about under its own power, as it does not contain a prime mover to produce electricity...

s, engineless units with traction motor

Traction motor

Traction motor refers to an electric motor providing the primary rotational torque of a machine, usually for conversion into linear motion ....

s that draw their power from the "mother" unit.

With the B&O, the SD20-2s were numbered #7700–7704. At some point, #7700 and #7702 swapped numbers. All of them passed to CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

 as #2400-2404, but are now withdrawn from CSX service. Two of the units, #2401 and #2402, went on to the Ohio Central Railroad System; #2401 was in turn resold to the Pacific Harbor Line

Pacific Harbor Line

The Pacific Harbor Line was formed in 1998 to take over the Harbor Belt Line . In 1998, the Alameda Corridor was nearing completion, allowing a massive amount of railroad traffic from the largest harbors in the Western hemisphere: Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.The railroad has 18...

and reassigned road #45 (pictured at right). #2404 was scrapped by Cycle Systems of Roanoke, Virginia in August 2006.

External links

• The History of EMD Diesel Engines at the Pacific Southwest Railway official website.