Prototype Engine Wins Historical Designation

A prototype diesel engine has been declared an Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ National History & Heritage Committee.

The engine is now in the collection of the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society in North East, Pennsylvania.

The museum specializes in GE locomotives due in part to its proximity to the GE Erie locomotive assembly plant, which is now owned and operated by Wabtec Corporation.

The 1,200-hp Cooper-Bessemer FVAL8T was used in GE test locomotives, including A-B-B-A test locomotive No. 750 that operated on the Erie Railroad from 1954 to 1957.

One A and B unit had the FVAL8T, while the other two units had 1,600-hp FVAL12T engines.

The FVAL8T was later used to run an air compressor for a factory in Mount Vernon, Ohio, for several decades.

The Lake Shore museum acquired the engine from the Ohio factory.

The FVA8T demonstrated that it was suitable for use in GE locomotive. It would evolve into the

GE 7FDL engine, which was introduced with its U25B locomotive line.

The prototype FVAL8T is the only survivor of four such engines build by Cooper-Bessemer.

The North East Museum currently has it stored but hopes to put it on public view next year.

North East Museum Gains 10th Vintage GE Locomotive

The Lake Shore Railway Museum and Historical Society has added a 10^th General Electric-built vintage locomotive to its collection.

The latest addition to the collection in North East, Pennsylvania, is a 45-tonner originally used by the U.S. Army.

No. 10 was built by GE in 1943 and had been sitting at ELG Metals southeast of Pittsburgh.

The company agreed to donate the locomotive to the museum with Wabtec, which now owns the GE locomotive assembly plant in Erie, Pennsylvania, providing technical assistance on how to move the diesel.

The move was handled by Daily Express of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

The Lakeshore museum plans to restore No. 10 to operating condition.
The vintage GE engines are part of a collection that has been named “Locomotives that our parents and grandparents built.”