Just out of curiosity, are the GP-59,GP-60, and the GP-60M’s any good? I never have really heard anything about them.
I can’t speak for the east coast, but both Southern Pacific and Santa Fe had them…like the GP40-2s, they were the HOT locomotives when new, but after four or five years they just became regular workhorses on whatever assignment they had. Right before the SP pulled out of the last branchlines in Oregon, I saw one GP-60 assigned to a three-day a week local on some of SP’s worse track. Nice way to get some detail pictures, but a sad sight to see for such a locomotive. Now that the builders and railroads are all over six-axle power (for now, anyways), those four axle units are basically switchers.
Now that I live up in northwestern Montana, the only time I see a GP- is as a yard switcher in Whitefish or on the locals; rarely if ever on the through mainline trains. Saw a GP-60M on the MRL last week, sandwiched between a Dash 9-44CW and a SD40-2.
The GP60M with its wide nose cab was just a little to heavy for the two axle truck which gave it a rough ride. But other wise it was a good unit for lite fast intermodal.
Hi Scott,
The big advantage for a GP-60 verses an SD-60 is higher top end speed. The high horsepower units with 4 axles (GP-60, B-40-8), means that you have all that horsepower feeding 4 traction motors for fast, light trains. Now the advantage of the six axle units are more tractive effort for heavy trains.
As far as the dependability of the GP-50s I know that all the railroads that had them hated and that is why very few GP-50s and SD-50s are still in service.
Dave
The GP60 is an excellant motor. I have had many experiances with them. The SP decided to with the 60’s for they’re fast intermodal. One of the other guys is correct. They do have a higher top end speed of 78 mph. These motors have a 710 2 cycle powerplant producing 3800 horsepower. This is the motor as in the SD60, the M series’s, and the new 70’s but these have new microprocessers that enable it to more things. The reason why you didn’t hear much about these units is because if all the new technology that was developed right after these came out. The new AC traction generation pretty much overlooked everything else. SP ordered (I think) 193 of these. SP loved these enigines, they were smooth riding, quick loading, not much of a starter like the 6 axle units, but when they got up to speed, they just sailed. I believe that if you want more info about these you can go to the EMD website and get the info you need. Hope this helps.
Dru
I’ve heard that the GP-60 is a very reliable engine. It seems that the standard cab was more popular, but I see alot of big cabs around here. I live in Seattle, it’s mainly Dash9 country w/some SD-40-2, but I do see a few BNSF Super Fleet GP-60M’s on intermodal trains in consists with Dash9’s. There’s a GP-60 slug that has been running here all summer long too.
Hi, read your question and thought you might be interested in knowing that the BNSF is still running quite a few GP60M units on intermodal trains in and out of Chicago on the old Q triple track as well as on the old ATSF main. I am partial to the older cab units but the GP60M somehow reminds me of a modern looking F unit, small and powerful looking (and acting) and oh that sound they make at speed! We also sometimes still see some GP60B units, all of them in warbonnet red and silver (as with the “A” units as well). I believe they were all part of the ATSF “SuperFleet” at one time and were the queens of the fleet for intermodal for some time. Jim in Aurora, IL
Scott
Do you prefer EMD over GE? Each builder has definitely had its tops and bottoms.
a sick emd is better running than any perfect ge anyday. emd engines are better for most railroading situation. i due prefer a ge dash 8 or 9 for coal loading and unloading but otherwise emd anyday.
J
you are with the BNSF or UP I presume. I am going to have to hook you up with a EMD hat next time I am in the area! I am glad you like EMD’s.
Don L
no i am employed by the ns… sorry … anyways before they started getting all these ge boat anchors the best engines to run and still are is the emd. and the ns in all there wisdom will put a wide body emd in the rear of one of these ge what evers. so i haft to listen to chug chug chug all night instead of power doing its work. no wonder crews get tired and go to sleep. when it takes 4 hrs longer to get there. it dont bother me much anymore i know when im called all im going to work is 12 hrs then go home…
I thank they all are good engines.Or they both would not be selling locomotives.Railroads would be shopping in China or Japan.
Hey j. Just a side question here. What part of the NS system do you run on? Your definatly right about the GE’s being up front. When I’m waiting for a train to photograph I figure that I got about a 75% chance that it is going to have a C40-9W on the lead or some form of GE power. I see quite a few C40-8’s and C39-8’s also.
I thought it was kind of funny when NS bought a token buy of 10 new SD70M’s tacked onto the UP 1000 unit SD70M order. NS should buy more. As of lately of the 700 UP units delivered, the availability is about 96% . Do the NS GE’s run that well??? Cost is not the bottom line sometimes… It should be how often your locomotive works.
Don L
They do have about 80 SD70’s with a standard cab. Still a small number compared to the -9’s. Around 800 of them. They also have some SD80MAC’s that they picked up from Conrail. But the bulk of their EMD power seems to be in SD60’s and older units.
I hope they buy some more new EMD’s. NS needs to spread it out more here lately. How do they like their 80mac’s?? I wonder?
I hope they have the wide nose.They look better dont they.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like EMD’s but EMD should be the last ones to talk about availability. I give you the SD50, SD75 and the SD90MAC and then would like you to tell me about availability. It seems that the BNSF loves the big GE’s because they are reliable.
hey dru
you moved, no wonder I no longer see you trackside at canton. you’re right about those gp-60’s, however they were geared for 70mph top speed, with the right gearing they could easily go faster. besides the darn overspeed kick’s on 'em around 72 if it’s set right.
Hi,
to the GP-59 I’ve only ran a couple of 'em and they were NS units on a light train, they did have a somewhat unusual sound to 'em though. The GP-60’s were (and are still when maintained) excellent units. Very good for intermodal and autorack trains, accelerate very good, good dynamic brakes. Despite some comments they are also quite good with general manifest traffic, especially in undulating territory where their quick loading keeps the slack off of you. (as opposed to comparable GE’s like the Dash 8 40B’s, which take forever and a day to load up). Also the 60’s, while somewhat slippery, aren’t nearly as slippery as the 4 axle GE’s, on a heavy train in the rain I would much prefer a set of EMD 60’s over 40B’s. The M version is probably identical, although like all wide bodies, probably rides rougher than it’s standard cab brother. As a SP engineer (now UP) I loved getting a set of 3 or 4 60’s on a stack train. Interestingly, if you had some of those Dash 8’s behind the 60’s they were ok, but put 'em in the lead, and they fought each other all the way, the EMD would shove the GE before it started loading, confusing the wheel slip program on the GE and causing it to load even less. To an EMD in the lead, the GE was just another train car until it started doing it’s share of the work. By the way, the whole 60 series is the basis for the 70M’s, 70MAC’s, and until upgraded (if ever) the UP SD9043MAC’s. I think that should say enough about the 60’s right there, what with litteraly 1000’s of the 60’s offspring running around or on order (rumor has it UP is negotiating for 750 more 70M’s).