On one of the Guilford email lists, Dave Grimm pointed out that the B&M U30C #663 was nicknamed the "U.S.S. Bickmore", after a member of the mechanical forces up in Waterville. I had never noticed that the #663 even bears a stencil on its pilot which reads "USS BICKMORE", until Dave pointed this out. It is visible in this shot.

As the story goes, one GTI dispatcher originated the term "boat anchor" to designate a unit dead in a consist, as in "that unit is about as much help as a boat anchor in pulling that train". This, of course, was a commonly heard term in the late '80's, and one especially appropriate when referring to the GE U-boats. Late in its career, the #663 had the term "boat anchor" applied to it more often than not and every time that the subject of retiring it came up, Tim Bickmore at Waterville would plead with the guys at Billerica to give him just one more chance to fix it, since by now he was certain he knew just what was wrong with it. As you can guess, the combination of "boat anchor", "U-boat", Tim Bickmore's name and the fact that the #663 was often the subject of morning meetings, all meant that it didn't take long for it to become known as the "U.S.S. Bickmore," frequently just shortened to "the Bickmore".

Photographed by John Joyce, August 6, 1993.
Added to the photo archive by John Joyce, March 1, 2006.
Railroad: Guilford.

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