Hey Barry, technically the 7200 WAS a success, but with the introduction of the Dash 7's, it just wasn't worth the effort to rebuild the U23's. Playing into that was the decision to shut down Cleburne as a major shop.
Evidence of the success of the rebuild is that it lasted well into the BNSF era as the BNSF 4276, albeit downrated back to 2300 HP by the Santa Fe and renumbered as the 6419 a couple of years after it was rebuilt. It was considered just another B23-7 by maintenance forces, although as is typical of most rebuilds, it always had some morphodite characteristics. It served the BNSF until they parked the entire B23-7 fleet a couple of years ago.
|
It's still around, now on the property of the Minnesota Commercial in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I'm not sure if they plan on running it or using for spare parts (they have quite a few "-7" models on the roster) as it hasn't really moved since it showed up back in the summer. Definitely an interesting story behind this unit.
|
|