The horrible horrible experiment
Template drawn by Joshua Moldover, via The Railroad Paint Shop
Ex-CMStP&P FP45 #1, now (after a detour through the breaker’s yard, and then the MTRR shops for a new generator/prime mover/electrics) PV&T DL12 #462 – basically a cowled C636 with flexicoil trucks – acting as an evaluation for a never-to-be-realized order of M636s.
As Milwaukee #1 it had an electrical cabinet fire, and as part of replacing it the carbody was modified to include a pair of machinery doors; when the engine was replaced with a 251-20 the roof panels above it was replaced with one that had no air filters or fans, then a row of portholes were dropped in to get some light onto the engine compartment to make the machine room a little less of a horrible dark cave.
Painted cranberry orange to make it stand out as a test platform, which wasn’t really necessary because an EMD sounding like an Alco is headturning enough!
(it was a successful test platform, but the PV&T’s considered purchase of a handful of M636s was mooted by the D&H merger, which dumped enough non-251'ed power into the diesel division to make it less important that everything diesel also have a 251 or 239 as a prime mover.)