The EMD GA18 was an export locomotive built by

GM-EMD Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its sub ...

in 1969. The GA18 was a derivative of the

EMD G18 The EMD G18 was an export locomotive introduced by GM-EMD in the late 1960s. The standard EMD suffixes applied after the G18 designation to indicate if the customer purchased locomotives with specific traction motors to fit narrow gauge A na ...

and was designed as an extremely light locomotive with low axle loading which used freight car trucks driven by cardan shafts and two traction motors attached to the underframe. It is the successor model of the EMD GA8. They are powered by an EMD 8-645E prime mover rated at 1100 bhp and 1000 hp for traction. Only seven units were built.

Original Owners

Chile

FCAB The Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia (British company name: Antofagasta (Chili) & Bolivia Railway or FCAB for short) is a private railway operating in the northern provinces of Chile. It is notable in that it was one of the earliest rail ...

953

Taiwan

Taiwan Railway Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) is a railway operator in Taiwan. It is an agency of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, responsible for managing, maintaining, and running conventional passenger and freight railway services ...

S401-S405

Zambia

*1 Nchanga Consol Copper 10

Taiwan Railway Administration

purchased five GA18 locomotives in 1969 which were equipped with special cab signal display and track sorting devices for use as Qidu hump yard switching locomotives. They were named the S400 series by the TRA. In addition to yard switching, the TRA S400 series GA18's were also used to pull short run commuter trains. After the closing of Qidu hump yard, the S400 series were used as general road switchers until their retirement. All have been scrapped with the exception of S405 which has been preserved and restored in its original Navy blue paint scheme and is currently on display in Miaoli Railway Museum, and S402 which is currently stored in a half-dismantled state in

Taipei Railway Workshop The Taipei Railway Workshop () was the largest railway workshop of Taiwan Railways Administration. For decades it manufactured and maintained thousands of railway vehicles. The workshop was established in 1935 to replace the original workshop, whi ...

to await preservation following the workshop's transition to a railway museum.

Gallery

References

G18A Diesel-electric locomotives of Chile Diesel-electric locomotives of Taiwan Diesel-electric locomotives of Zambia Metre gauge diesel locomotives 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives {{diesel-loco-stub