EMD GP39-2

EMD GP39-2
Type and origin
Power type Diesel-electric
Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
Model GP39-2
Build date 1974 – 1984
Total produced 239
Specifications
Configuration:
 ​
 • AAR B-B
Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length 59 ft 2 in (18.03 m)
Prime mover EMD 645E3
Engine type V12 diesel
Cylinders 12
Performance figures
Power output 2,300 hp (1,720 kW)
Career
Locale United States

The EMD GP39-2 is a 4-axle road switcher diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1974 and 1984. 239 examples of this locomotive were built for American railroads. Part of the EMD Dash 2 line, the GP39-2 was an upgraded GP39. The power for this locomotive was provided by a turbocharged 12-cylinder EMD 645E3 diesel engine, which could produce 2,300 horsepower (1,720 kW).

BNSF 2958 EMD GP39-2,Power sits at Mormon yard on the old Santa Fe at Stockton

Unlike the original GP39, which sold only 23 examples as railroads preferred the reliable un-turbocharged GP38, the GP39-2 was reasonably successful, ascribed to its better fuel economy relative to the GP38-2 which became of more interest in the energy-crisis 1970s, and to its better performance at altitude.[1]

Original Owners

The GP39-2 sold to five railroads and two industrial operators:[2]

Railroad Quantity Road numbers Notes
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 106 3600-3705 All to BNSF
Burlington Northern Railroad 40 2700–2739 All to BNSF
Delaware and Hudson Railway 20 7601-7620
Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation 32 1-3,705-711,779-799,905
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad 20 360-379 371 to Union Pacific as 2370, then to NEGS, then to WAMX as 3927, operating with AA
Phelps Dodge Corporation 1 33
Reading Railroad 20 3401-3420 To Delaware and Hudson, now most in service with CSX

Rebuilds

Several GP40-2 locomotives were rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen with head-end power generators, which meant that 1,000 horsepower of the locomotive would go to the generator instead of being used for tractive effort. Because of this, they were renamed the GP39H-2 class of locomotives.

References

  1. ↑ Foster, Gerald (1996). A Field Guide to Trains of North America. Houghton Mifflin Field Guides. ISBN 0-395-70112-0.
  2. ↑ "EMD GP39-2 Order Numbers". The UNofficial EMD Homepage. Retrieved 2006-12-08.

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