EMD GP39-2

EMD GP39-2
CSX 4318 EMD GP39-2 at Deerfield Beach Seaboard Air Line Railway Station
Power type Diesel-electric
Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
Model GP39-2
Build date 1974 – 1984
Total produced 239
AAR wheel arr. B-B
Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Length 59 ft 2 in (18.03 m)
Prime mover EMD 645E3
Cylinders 12
Power output 2,300 hp (1,700 kW)
Locale United States

An 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. Power for this locomotive was provided by a turbocharged 12-cylinder EMD 645E3 diesel engine, which could produce 2,300 horsepower.

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
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 106 3600-3705
Burlington Northern Railroad 40 2700-2739
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
Phelps Dodge Corporation 1 33
Reading Railroad 20 3401-3420

References

  1. ^ Foster, Gerald (1996). A Field Guide to Trains of North America. Houghton Mifflin Field Guides. ISBN 0395701120. 
  2. ^ "EMD GP39-2 Order Numbers". The UNofficial EMD Homepage. http://www.trainweb.org/emdloco/gp39-2.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-08. 
4-axle general purpose diesel locomotives built by GM-EMD