EMD GP7

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EMD GP7
EMD GP7
ITC 1605, at the Illinois Railway Museum
Power type Diesel-electric
Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
Build date October 1949 – May 1954
Total production 2,729 (and 5 B units)
AAR wheel arr. B-B
Prime mover EMD 567B
Cylinders 16
Power output 1500 hp (1.1 MW)
BBRR 1, a GP7, with the ODC special, Dillwyn, Virginia.
BBRR 1, a GP7, with the ODC special, Dillwyn, Virginia.
Chesapeake and Albemarle 2158 (an ATSF GP7U) in Chesapeake, VA.
Chesapeake and Albemarle 2158 (an ATSF GP7U) in Chesapeake, VA.
OmniTrack 4433 (an ex-CNW GP7) spotted on CSX in Augusta, Georgia.
OmniTrack 4433 (an ex-CNW GP7) spotted on CSX in Augusta, Georgia.

The EMD GP7 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between October, 1949 and May, 1954. Power was provided by an EMD 567B 16-cylinder engine which generated 1500 horsepower (1.1 MW)[1]. The GP7 was offered both with and without control cabs, and those built without control cabs were called a GP7B. The GP7B locomotives were built between March and April of 1953. They were the first EMD road locomotives to use a hood unit design instead of a car-body design. This proved to be more efficient than the cab unit design as the hood unit cost less, had cheaper and easier maintenence, and had slightly better vision.

Of the 2,729 GP7s built, 2,635 were for American railroads, 92 were for Canadian railroads, and 2 were for Mexican railroads. All 5 GP7Bs were built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Although ALCO, Fairbanks-Morse, and Baldwin had all introduced road switchers before EMD, the GP7s made popular this configuration of diesel locomotive, and EMD was barely able to meet demand. Later, locomotives in EMD's 'GP' series came to be nicknamed 'Geeps.' Many GP7s can still be found in service today, although most Class 1 Rail carriers stopped using these locomotives by the early 1980s.

The GP7 replaced the poorly conceived BL2,[who?] which had been in production only one year.

[edit] Original Buyers


Owner Quantity Numbers Notes
Aberdeen and Rockfish 1 205
Algoma Central and Hudson Bay 21 150-170 built by GMDD
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 250 99, 2650-2893, 2788A-2792A 99 ex EMD (demonstrator) 525, 2788A-2792A were type GP7B
Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay 2 501-502
Atlanta and West Point 5 571-575
Atlantic and East Carolina 1 501
Atlantic Coast Line 154 100-253
Baltimore and Ohio 33 720-731, 740-746, 910-922, 6405
Bangor and Aroostook 16 560-575
Belt Railway of Chicago 8 470-477
Boston and Maine Railroad 23 1555-1577
Butte, Anaconda and Pacific 3 101-103
Canadian National 25 4824, 7555-7578 built by GMDD, 4824 was a rebuild
Canadian Pacific 17 8409-8425 built by GMDD
Central of Georgia 15 106-107, 120-132
Central Railroad of New Jersey 13 1520-1532
Charleston and Western Carolina 21 200-220
Chesapeake and Ohio 199 5700-5797, 5800-5900 5720-5738 built by GMDD
Chicago and Eastern Illinois 30 203-232
Chicago and North Western 124 151-161, 1518-1550, 1556-1559, 1562-1599, 1601-1603, 1625-1659 1518-1520 ex EMD (demonstrators) 922, 100, 200, 300
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 68 200-267
Chicago Great Western 2 120-121
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific 113 430-441, 1200-1237, 1250-1311, 1308(2nd)
Clinchfield 17 900-916
Colorado and Wyoming 2 103-104
Colorado Fuel and Iron 2 101-102
Columbia, Newberry and Laurens 5 100-104
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western 20 951-970
Denver and Rio Grande Western 14 5100-5113
Detroit and Toledo Shore Line 10 41-50
Detroit, Toledo and Ironton 24 950-973
Erie Railroad 52 1200-1246, 1400-1404
Florida East Coast 15 607-621
Georgia and Florida 6 701-706
Georgia Railroad 16 1021-1036
Great Northern Railway 56 600-655
Illinois Central 48 8800-8801, 8850-8851, 8900-8911, 8950-8981
Illinois Terminal 6 1600-1605
Kansas City Southern 13 150-162
Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway 9 801-809
Louisville and Nashville 61 400-440, 500-514, 501-502(2nd), 550-552
Maine Central 19 561-569, 571-580
Meridian & Bigbee Railroad 1 1
Midland Valley 4 151-154
Missouri Pacific 208 4116-4194, 4197-4325
Missouri-Kansas-Texas 33 1501-1529, 1761-1764
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis 37 700-731, 750-754
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México 2 6600-6601
New York Central 218 5600-5817
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad 48 400-447
Northern Pacific 20 550-569
Pennsylvania Railroad 66 8500-8512, 8545-8587, 8797-8806
Phelps Dodge Corporation 7 1-2, 7-8, 27-29
Portland Terminal 1 1081
Quebec North Shore and Labrador 22 100-101, 104-123 built by GMDD
Reading Railroad 44 600-636, 660-666
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac 4 101-104
Seaboard Air Line 123 1700-1822
Soo Line 7 375-378, 381-383
Southern Railway (U.S.) 77 2063-2077, 2156-2197, 6200-6205, 6240-6244, 6540-6544, 8210-8213
St. Louis Southwestern 1 320
St. Louis-San Francisco 129 500-549, 555-632, 615(2nd)
Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia 3 707-709
Texas and Pacific 21 1110-1130
Texas Mexican Railway 3 850-852
Toledo, Peoria and Western 2 102-103
Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo 7 71-77 built by GMDD
Union Pacific 30 700-729
US Army 20 1821-1840
Wabash 34 450-483 453 built by GMDD
Western Maryland 4 20-23
Western Pacific 13 701-713
Western Railway of Alabama 6 521-526

[edit] Preservation

Georgia Railroad 1026, an EMD GP7 -- on permanent display in Duluth, Georgia.
Georgia Railroad 1026, an EMD GP7 -- on permanent display in Duluth, Georgia.

The GP7 can still be seen on Short-line railroads and in museums. This long lasting road switcher is good for any job, making it the ideal industrial locomotive.

One of the largest preserved rosters can be found in Portola, California, at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum. The WPRM is home to Western Pacific (WP) units 705, 707 and 708 and Sacramento Northern unit 712. WP 707 is fully restored and is maintained in mainline ready condition.

The United Railways Historical Society owns two former NJT, ex CR, nee Central Railroad of New Jersey GP7Ps, #1523 and 1524.

The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States, also has a few operating GP7s. Visitors can charter one of these locomotives for an hour and operate it themselves (under the watchful eye of a TVRM engineer) along two miles of TVRM's line. TVRM uses its GP7s not only for charters, but also for pulling excursion trains and for servicing its one industrial customer.

The Minnesota Transportation Museum operates a GP7 on its Osceola and St Croix Valley Railway. Painted as Soo Line 559, it was built as Rock Island 1223, rebuilt as their 4505, sold to the Chicago & North Western as their 4159, spun off to the Fox River Valley then acquired with the railroad by the Wisconsin Central. The locomotive was purchased by the museum from the Wisconsin Central.

The first production GP7, C&NW 1518 is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union Illinois

The Conway Scenic RR in North Conway NH operates the former Maine Central RR GP-7 #573 on it's Valley Train. #573 was the last MEC unit to retain an operating steam generator, and thus was used by railroad president E Spencer Miller on his inspection train. #573 is reputed to be the most painted unit on the Maine Central, and was known as "Mr Miller's engine." To this day, the name of a MEC engineer, Jim Campbell, is still displayed on the inside of the short hood door in the cab, presumably placed there by Mr Campbell during one of his trips in the unit.

[edit] References

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4-axle general purpose diesel locomotives built by GM-EMD
(See also: List of GM-EMD locomotives)
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