Rapido is happy to announce the next in our series of classic General Electric locomotives, the C30-7 in HO scale.
The C30-7 was General Electric’s improvement of the U30C locomotive, featuring a 16-cylinder 3,000 horsepower diesel engine. Built between September 1976 and May 1986, over 1100 units were produced for many of the Class I railroads across the United States for use primarily in heavy-haul freight. A fair number would go on to have extended careers with both short/regional lines and private industrial railroads, owing to the locomotives reliability and pulling power.
It is, perhaps, the most polarizing locomotive from the 1980s and early 90s. The C30-7 was GE's answer to the SD40-2. When one thinks of Powder River and coal, the C30-7 isn't far behind. Burlington Northern owned the most in the States, with just over 240 examples. Santa Fe was a distant second with 157 C30s.
The C30-7 later gave way to the similar C36-7, as well as various unique models such as the Conrail C30-7A and the BC Rail C36-8m, rebuilt from former Conrail C30-7s.
