GE B23-7

{{Short description|Model of diesel locomotive}}

{{refimprove|date=February 2019}}

{{Infobox Locomotive

|name = GE B23-7

|powertype = Diesel-electric

|image = BNSF 4258 GE B23-7.JPG

|caption = BNSF 4258 switching the intermodal yards at Commerce, California, February 15, 2005.

|gauge = {{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}
{{Track gauge|1600mm|lk=on}}, Brazil

|builder = GE Transportation Systems GE de Brazil

|buildmodel = B23-7

|cylindercount = 12

|length = {{convert|62|ft|2|in|abbr=on}}

|aarwheels = B-B

|primemover = GE FDL-12

|enginetype = V12 diesel

|poweroutput = {{convert|2250|hp|abbr=on}}

|builddate = SEP 1977 – DEC 1984

|totalproduction = U.S. - 412 units; Mexico - 124 units.

|nicknames = B-boat

}}

The GE B23-7 is a diesel locomotive model that was first offered by GE in late 1977. Featuring a smaller 12 cylinder version of the FDL engine, it is the successor to GE's U23B produced from early 1968 to mid 1977, but at {{convert|62|ft|2|in|abbr=on}} long is exactly {{convert|2|ft|0|in|2|abbr=on}}. longer. It competed with the very successful EMD GP38-2. General Electric also produced a variant, the BQ23-7,{{cite book|author=Hans Halberstadt|title=Modern Diesel Locomotives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=592XeW6ILJEC&pg=PA62|access-date=14 April 2010|date=13 September 1996|publisher=MBI Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-7603-0199-9|pages=62–}}{{cite book|author=Gerald L. Foster|title=A Field Guide to Trains of North America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvSHlCxuyH0C&pg=PA46|access-date=14 April 2010|date=18 March 1996|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-395-70112-6|pages=46–}} No. 5130-5139, for the Seaboard Coast Line. A total of 536 B23-7's were built for 9 U.S. customers and 2 Mexican customers.

A B23-7A is a 12-cylinder B23-7 with horsepower boosted to 250 per cylinder or 3,000 horsepower. In 1980 the Missouri Pacific ordered three B23-7A's (#'s 4667-4669, later UP #'s 257-259) and tested them system-wide. The result was the GE model B30-7A, B30-7 with a 12-cylinder FDL prime mover. They were not renumbered into the B30-7A series on the MP because they lacked Sentry Wheel Slip and had different engine governors.

13 B23-7's were built by GE of Brazil in Dec.1979 for United South Eastern Railways(FUS) no.522-524 and National Railways of Mexico(NdeM) no.9130-9139. 17 B23-7s were built from GE kits in Mexico as Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México no.10047-10052 and no.12001-12011.

Southern Railway's 54 units had Southern's "standard" high-short-hoods.