The EMD GP9 Series, An American Locomotive Icon

EMD originally began as the Electro-Motive Corporation and has its beginnings in 1922 being based out of Cleveland, Ohio building inexpensive motorcars. With the purchase of the company in 1930 by General Motor, and more resources at its disposal the company began developing the precursor of the modern-day diesel-electric road unit (cabs and road-switchers), the streamlined trainset, which consisted of a powered car permanently attached to a few coaches (usually two or three cars). The most famous of these streamlined trainsets was the Burlington Zephyrs, a beautiful streamlined stainless steel creation (originally powered by Winton engines, which would also become a subsidiary of GM) that was extremely lightweight and fast. The original trainset, the Zephyr 9900, made headlines in 1934 when it completed a non-stop journey from Denver to Chicago in a little over 13 hours.

Because the power cars with these trainsets were permanently attached to the coaches EMC sought to design a locomotive free of this articulated setup but designed in such a manner that a railroad could still attach it to any passenger train and obtain the same, smooth streamlined look. This it did with the unveiling of the EA model in 1937, the first in a long line of passenger diesel locomotive designs that would come to be known as the E series.

Not surprisingly, soon after the EA unveiling the company decided to take things a step further and develop the first true diesel road unit, capable of pulling long freights in main line service. In 1939 it introduced the FT model (perhaps the key difference between the E and F series was that Fs rode on B-B trucks whereas Es rode on C-Cs and carried a noticeably longer carbody), the first in EMC’s F series and one of the most success diesel-electric designs of all time. The F series would go on to define American railroading for years and you can still see it in regular use today, over 60 years after it first debuted! The FT (which stood for Freight, Twenty-seven hundred horsepower) was a superb locomotive and although its 2,700 horsepower came from an A-B setup of a cab (A) and booster (B) units rated at 1,350 horsepower each, it was quickly loved by railroads for the efficiencies it held over steam such as its ruggedness and ease of maintenance.

Following the success of its cab units, EMD realized that there was a market to be made in the road-switchers, which at the time was mostly dominated by Alco with its RS series. Its first attempt at this type of locomotive, which gave the train crews both excellent vision all around the locomotive for switching and local service as well as enough horsepower to be used in main line operations, was the BL2. Although unsuccessful from a sales standpoint the BL2 was really a mere stepping-stone for its next model, the GP series (meaning General Purpose).

The first in the series was the four-axle, GP7, which began production in 1949. The enormous success of this model led to EMD following with the slightly upgraded GP9 in 1954 after production of the GP7 ended that year. The two models are visually and mechanically very similar except for the slight horizontal bulge roughly in the center of the GP9's long hood, which houses its dynamic brakes.

Through 1959 the model sold an astonishing 3,400+ units, which is even more surprising when one realizes that the GP7 sold 2,600+ itself! While the GP7 is credited with completing main line dieselization perhaps the GP9 is best credited with finishing off the remaining steam in America (an exception would be the Norfolk & Western, which held out on scrapping its steam fleet until the late 1950s).

The GP9 carried all of the features that made EMD so highly regarded with its ease of maintenance and nice design features. The locomotive had an added incentive in that along with being able to do practically any type of freight service with its 1,750 horsepower rating (slightly more than the GP7’s 1,500 horsepower), its overall carbody design was also attractive enough to be used in many types of passenger service as well (although the Es, Fs and other streamlined locomotives usually handled the prominent passenger trains).

Not surprisingly, with the success of the GP9 and GP7 series the units could be found on all types of railroads (both large and small) and in all types of service (main lines, spurs, branch lines, yards, etc.). The units’ extreme versatility is, of course, what made them so successful, and many continue to be found today in freight service on both shortlines and Regionals (as well as museums and tourist lines). Spotting them, however, can be a bit tough, as most have been rebuilt at some point in the last 50 years, sometimes altering their looks a bit. Be on the lookout, however, and you can find them! The GP7 and GP9 models were only the beginning of the series and later four-axle, as well as six-axle, models would follow.

For more information on the GP9 series consider one (or both) of the books below. Mike Schafer’s Vintage Diesel Locomotives looks at virtually all of the classic builders and models from Alco PAs to early EMD Geeps. If you’re interested in classic EMDs, or diesels in general, this book gives an excellent general history of both.

Also, Brian Solomon’s The American Diesel Locomotive also studies many of the same diesel models and builders as Mr. Schafer’s publication although at nearly twice the size the book goes into a bit more detail than Vintage Diesel Locomotives and also covers newer models. All in all, though, both books are a great read and you shouldn’t be disappointed with them, not to mention that they are loaded with photos (many in color)!