General Electric 70-Tonner

Tidewater Southern Railway diesel-electric locomotives No. 141 (Builder #29468) and 142 (Builder #29470) were acquired in 1948  then renumbered to 741 and 742.  Locomotive No. 743 (Builder #31726) was purchased new from General Electric in June of 1953.  The 70-ton units were built by General Electric and were rated at 600 horsepower.  Although manufacturer designed as switch engines, on the Tidewater Southern they served as prime road engines.

T.S. No. 741 was retired in 1964, sold to locomotive broker Preston W. Duffy in 1966, then was scrapped.  No. 742 was retired in 1967, sold to broker Preston W. Duffy in 1968, then sold to Valley Camp Coal in Ohio County, West Virginia.  No. 743 was retired in 1968; since retirement from the T.S. it has been Charles City Western No. 76 (part of Iowa Terminal Ry.); Iowa Terminal Railway No. 76; Sisseton Southern Railway No. 76 (part of Dakota Southern Ry.); and Dakota Southern Railway No. 76. 

No. 141/741  

(Photos: Top - W. Velbaum, 9th Street Modesto, unkwn date.  Second - Mel Lawrence, West Sacramento, unkwn date.)

No. 142/742

(Photos: Top - E.R. Mohr, Stockton Roundhouse, April 11, 1948.  Second - D. Schideler, Stockton Roundhouse, July 1965.  Third - Don Ross, Sacramento,  August 1967.)

 

No. 743

(Photos: Top - John Stashik, Franzia Winery, April 17, 1966.  Second - Mel Lawrence, location and date unknown.  Third - Matt Petersen, South Dakota, May 21, 2010.)

Ex-T.S. No. 743 on the Dakota Southern Railway in South Dakota on May 21, 2010.