The EMD GP39 is a 4-axle

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between June 1969 and July 1970. The GP39 was a derivative of the

GP38 The EMD GP38 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and December 1971. The locomotive's prime mover was an EMD 645 16-cylinder engine that generated . The company built 7 ...

equipped with a

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

EMD 645E3 The EMD 645 is a family of two-stroke diesel engines that was designed and manufactured by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. While the 645 series was intended primarily for locomotive, marine and stationary engine use, one 16-cyli ...

12-

cylinder A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...

engine which generated . 23 examples of this locomotive model were built for

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

railroads. Burlington Northern Railway later rebuilt GP30 and GP35 locomotives that it classified as GP39s, but they were not built as such by GM/EMD.

Production history

Twenty of the original 23 were built for the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis Potter Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Rich ...

, while the other buyers were Kennecott Copper (2) and Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay (1). Though the GP39 was not a popular locomotive, EMD later revisited the idea of a turbocharged GP38 with its

GP39-2 The EMD GP39-2 is a 4-axle 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. ...

in 1974.

GP39DC

Two examples of the GP39 were built as GP39DC locomotives in June 1970. These used a DC main generator instead of the

alternator An alternator (or synchronous generator) is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field wit ...

used on the standard GP39 units, but were otherwise identical. 2 examples of this locomotive model were built for

Kennecott Copper Company Kennecott Utah Copper LLC (KUC), a division of Rio Tinto Group, is a mining, smelting, and refining company. Its corporate headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah. Kennecott operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit c ...

as 1 and 2, later sold to

Copper Basin Railway The Copper Basin Railway is an List of Arizona railroads, Arizona short-line railroad that operates from a connection with the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) at Magma to Winkelman, Arizona, Winkelman, in of length. The railroad also has a branch ...

as 401 and 402.

GP39X

The EMD GP39X is a

built by the General Motors Electro-Motive Division. All six units built were constructed for the Southern Railway with Southern's characteristic high

short hood The short hood of a hood unit-style diesel locomotive is the shorter of the two hoods (narrower sections of the locomotive body in front and behind of the cab) on a locomotive. The short hood contains ancillary equipment, frequently a chemica ...

. They were updated by EMD at Norfolk Southern's (Southern's successor) request to

EMD GP49 The EMD GP49 is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division. Power was provided by an EMD 645F3B 12-cylinder engine which generated . The GP49 was marketed as one of four models in the 50 series introduced in 1979. ...

standards in 1982. Norfolk Southern retired them in 2001, and they now are owned by

Tri-Rail Tri-Rail is a commuter rail service linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The ''Tri'' prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach County, Palm Beach, Broward Count ...

, after being upgraded with

head end power In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, ...

and a lowered

Original owners

GP39X

References

External links

* Sarberenyi, Robert.
EMD GP39 Original Owners
'

GP39 The EMD GP39 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between June 1969 and July 1970. The GP39 was a derivative of the GP38 equipped with a turbocharged EMD 645E3 12-cylinder engine which generated . ...

B-B locomotives Diesel–electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1969 Standard-gauge locomotives of the United States {{diesel-loco-stub

Production history

GP39DC

GP39X

Original owners

See also

References

External links