A former Baltimore & Ohio GP30 is returning to Ohio thanks to a deal between the Cincinnati Scenic Railway and the Raritan Central Railway. On February 21, Cincinnati Scenic announced it was acquiring Raritan Central 5, originally B&O 6923.
The GP30 locomotive was built in 1962 by EMD in La Grange, Ill., one of 948 built between 1961 and 1963. B&O owned 77 GP30s, and it’s likely that 5/6923 traveled through Ohio countless times during its time on the railroad. Later, it became part of the Chessie System and CSX, where it was eventually rebuilt into a GP30M with new components, new traction motors, and a reduced horsepower rating. In the 1990s, the engine was retired from the CSX roster and eventually ended up on the Raritan Central in New Jersey…