Powered by a V12 FDL prime mover, the 2250 h.p. U23B was GE’s intermediate-sized four-axle road-switcher of the late 1960s through the mid 1970s. The U23B’s direct competitor during this period was the very successful EMD GP38. In 10 years of production from 1968 through 1977 a total of 481 units were produced, making this the second best seller of GE’s “Universal Series” locomotives. The first units were delivered to the Delaware & Hudson in August and September 1968. CSX predecessors Chesapeake & Ohio and Louisville & Nashville had a combined fleet of 120 units, giving CSX one of the larger active fleets in later years. Penn Central, Santa Fe and Missouri Pacific also purchased sizeable fleets of U23Bs.
Primary spotting features include a stepped-out radiator section and two sets of three tall engine access doors near the center of the long hood. During production, the U23B was equipped with various truck side frames, including Blomberg trucks from EMD trade-in locomotives, AAR-style trucks, or GE’s own four-axle “FB2” truck. One of these three truck styles is included on our model where appropriate per road name.
Today the number of active U23B’s has dwindled, but a handful can still be found working for short lines and regional railroads in North America.
Features:
- Snow plow (included when appropriate per road name)
- Separately-applied scale detail parts include: windshield wipers, metal grab irons, coupler cut levers, multiple-unit hoses, train line hoses, fine scale handrails, drop steps and more!
- Five pole skewed armature motor with dual flywheels for optimum performance at all speeds
- Directional lighting with Golden-white LEDs
- Blackened metal wheels
Silver Sound Ready
- Atlas Silver Sound Ready models are equipped with a speaker for easy conversion to sound with the addition of a decoder.
Atlas Master™ Series Silver Additional Features:
- NMRA 8-pin plug for DCC (Decoder-ready)
Sound Features for Gold Series :
(DCC Operation)
- Supports all DCC-programming modes
- Flexible mapping of function keys F0 to F28.
- A total of six DCC function outputs are available
- Follows all NMRA DCC standards and recommended practices.
Analog (DC) Operation:
- The LokSound Select Dual-Mode decoder allows your Atlas Gold Series locomotive to be used on DC as well as on DCC layouts.
• Please note that the Atlas Quantum Engineer will NOT operate an Atlas Gold Series locomotive equipped with a LokSound Select decoder on an analog (DC) layout. However, the sound and lighting
functions of the LokSound Select decoder in the Atlas Gold Series U23B locomotive can be controlled by an easy-to-use basic DCC system. - Also note that on a DC-powered layout, a DCC and sound equipped locomotive (such as the Atlas Gold Series U23B) CANNOT be consisted with another locomotive that does not also have both DCC and sound. (This statement does NOT apply to DCC-equipped locomotives operating on a DCC layout.)
Sound Functionality:
- Over 20 sound effects are available, including engine start-up and shutdown, prime mover sounds through all eight notches, bell, air horn, air compressor, dynamic brakes and more.
- There are 16 user-selectable horns, 2 user-selectable bells, and 2 user-selectable synchronized brake squeals.
- Manual and Automatic Notching modes with the ability to change modes ”on the fly” are provided for true realism.
