Just five months off the boat at Houston, German immigrant 4002 is being readied at Rio Grande’s North Yard for a helper turn to the Moffat Tunnel. Local fans are excited. Could this 3540-hp diesel hydraulic from Krauss-Maffei’s Munich works be a sign of things to come, a leap from the 1500-hp diesel-electrics that in April, 1962, still dominate American railroading? Alas, Rio Grande already suspects it made a mistake in ordering three of the units. Air intakes sucked in exhaust gasses in the road’s numerous tunnels, frying the valves and mandating corrective surgery. And the twin 16-cylinder Maybach engines, like a fine German sports car, require constant tinkering. In two years, 4002 and its two fellows will be sold to SP, which also invested in three of the locomotives.
