When the class B’s started to be retired, they were stored at the Portland Shops as parts engines, then scrapped when they’d been completely gutted. In this way, a lot of them ended up being reused as new motors, but sometimes there were some leftover sleds that could be reused as prototype motors, or as slugs.

The front section of #217 (the rear had become part of a class N motor) had been stripped down to a shell when traffic levels started going up on the D&H South electrification and started pressing against the limits of the existing motive power.

Work was being done on more multisystem motors, but as a quick fix 217f was brought into the shops and rebuilt with a modified class JS drivetrain (all new electronics except a DC drive to power the existing DC motors), then sent west to Schenectady for service.

271f was converted to a SLG3 in 2012 when the class B2 it was part of was retired, followed by 271r (to #1212) in 2013