EMD GP11

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EMD GP11
Illinois Central diesel.jpg
An Illinois Central GP11 now on permanent display in downtown Carbondale, Illinois. This is the second GP11 rebuilt by ICG's shops in Paducah, Ky The first GP11 was numbered 8301. After this unit was rebuilt the 8700-series was created for the GP11s. It was intended that 8301 would be renumbered 8700, but that never happened.
Type and origin
Power typeDiesel-electric
Builder GM Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
(Rebuilt by Illinois Central Railroad)
Build dateApril 1978 – 1981 [1]
Total produced54 [1]
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 •  AAR B-B
Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The EMD GP11 is a four-axle road switcher diesel locomotive rebuilt by the Illinois Central Railroad's Paducah shops. It is very similar in appearance to the GP8 and GP10.

Road switcher

A road switcher is a type of railroad locomotive designed to both haul railcars in mainline service and shunt them in railroad yards. Both type and term are North American in origin, although similar types have been used elsewhere.

Diesel locomotive locomotive powered by a diesel engine

A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotive have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels.

Illinois Central Railroad transport company

The Illinois Central Railroad, sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa (1870). There was a significant branch to Omaha, Nebraska (1899), west of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and another branch reaching Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1877), starting from Cherokee, Iowa. The Sioux Falls branch has been abandoned in its entirety.

Contents

The Illinois Central Railroad began its GP11 rebuilding program in 1978. All units were rebuilt from recycled EMD GP7, GP9 or GP18 parts. Spotting features are an angled cab, exterior paper air filter, new air intake for the traction motors and four exhaust stacks. Internally they had Dash 2 solid state electrical equipment.

EMD GP7 model of 1500 hp North American diesel locomotive

The EMD GP7 is a four-axle (B-B) road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between October 1949 and May 1954.

EMD GP9 model of 1750 hp North American diesel locomotive

An EMD GP9 is a four-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division in the United States, and General Motors Diesel in Canada between January, 1954, and August, 1963. US production ended in December, 1959, while an additional thirteen units were built in Canada, including the last two in August, 1963.

EMD GP18 model of American 1800 hp diesel locomotive

The EMD GP18 is a 4-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors, Electro-Motive Division between December 1959 and November 1963. Power was provided by an EMD 567D1 16-cylinder engine which generated 1,800 horsepower (1.34 MW). The GP18 replaced the GP9 in EMD's catalog. 350 examples of this locomotive model were built for American railroads, 40 units were built for Mexican railroads, 12 were built for export to a Brazilian railroad, 2 were exported to Peru, and 1 was exported to Saudi Arabia.

Original buyers

A total of 54 of these remanufactured locomotives were built from April 1978 to 1981. [1] The first prototype unit of this model was numbered 8301. To avoid confusion the 8700-series was created to separate the GP11s from the GP10s. It was intended that 8301 would be renumbered 8700 but that never happened. IC units 8701 through 8726 were built in 1979 while units 8727 through 8750 were built in 1980; the remaining three from 8751 to 8753 were built in early 1981. [1]

Core units for the rebuilds came from IC GP9, a lone IC GP18, MBTA GP9, RDG GP7 and UP GP7, GP9 and GP9B.

In Spring 1979, the Clinchfield Railroad sent six GP7s to Paducah to be rebuilt to GP11s. These units were called GP16s by Clinchfield.

RailroadQuantityRoad numbersNotes
Illinois Central
1
8301
Built 1978
Illinois Central
26
8701-8726
Built 1979
Illinois Central
24
8727-8750
Built 1980
Illinois Central
3
8751-8753
Built 1981
Total54 [1]

Disposition

A former IC GP11 now owned by the Columbus and Greenville Railway CAGY 1804.jpg
A former IC GP11 now owned by the Columbus and Greenville Railway

The majority of Illinois Central's GP11 roster was retired prior to Canadian National's purchase of the railroad, though many of these engines can still be seen in service on other short-line railroads and/or preserved in various locations.

Carbondale, Illinois City in Illinois, United States

Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt." The city developed from 1853 because of the stimulation of railroad construction into the area. Today the major roadways of Illinois Route 13 and U.S. Route 51 intersect in the city. The city is 96 miles (154 km) southeast of St. Louis, Missouri, on the northern edge of the Shawnee National Forest. Carbondale is the home of the main campus of Southern Illinois University (SIU).

Monticello Railway Museum

The Monticello Railway Museum is a non-profit railroad museum located in Monticello, Illinois, about 18 miles west of Champaign, IL. It is home to over 100 pieces of railroad equipment, including several restored diesel locomotives and cars.

Monticello, Illinois City in Illinois, United States

Monticello is a city in Piatt County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,138 at the 2000 census, and 5,374 at a 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Piatt County.

See also

Related Research Articles

The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad is a former Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create the Seaboard System in 1983.

EMD GP30 model of American 2250 hp diesel locomotive

The EMD GP30 is a 2,250 hp (1,680 kW) four-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois between July 1961 and November 1963. A total of 948 units were built for railroads in the United States and Canada, including 40 cabless B units for the Union Pacific Railroad.

EMD E8 model of 2250 hp American passenger cab locomotive

The E8 was a 2,250-horsepower (1,678 kW), A1A-A1A passenger-train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of La Grange, Illinois. A total of 450 cab versions, or E8As, were built from August 1949 to January 1954, 447 for the U.S. and 3 for Canada. And 46 E8Bs were built from December 1949 to January 1954, all for the U.S. The 2,250 hp came from two 12 cylinder model 567B engines, each driving a generator to power the two traction motors on one truck. The E8 was the ninth model in the line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units. Starting in September 1953, a total of 21 E8As were built which used either the 567BC or 567C engines.

B unit diesel or electric locomotive without a cab (c.f. “A unit”)

A B unit, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive unit which does not have a driving cab or crew compartment, and must therefore be controlled from another, coupled locomotive with a driving cab. The terms booster unit and cabless are also used. The concept is largely confined to North America. Elsewhere, locomotives without driving cabs are rare.

EMD F7 model of 1500 hp North American cab diesel locomotive

The EMD F7 is a 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW) Diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) and General Motors Diesel (GMD).

EMD SD24 model of 2400 hp Co′Co′ American diesel locomotive

The EMD SD24 was a 2,400 hp (1,800 kW) six-axle (C-C) road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois between July 1958 and March 1963. A total of 224 units were built for customers in the United States, comprising 179 regular, cab-equipped locomotives and 45 cabless B units. The latter were built solely for the Union Pacific Railroad.

EMD SD40 model of North American 3000hp Co′Co′ diesel-electric locomotives

The EMD SD40 is a 6-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and August 1972.

EMD GP40X

An EMD GP40X is a 4-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between December 1977 and June 1978. Power for this unit was provided by a turbocharged 16-cylinder EMD 645F engine which could produce 3,500 horsepower (2,610 kW). 23 examples of this locomotive were built for North American railroads. This unit was a pre-production version meant to test technologies later incorporated into EMD's 50-series locomotives GP50 and SD50. Ten GP40X were delivered with an experimental HT-B truck design that became an option on the production GP50.

EMD GP40-based passenger locomotives Passenger diesel locomotive class

The passenger locomotives derivatives of the General Motors EMD GP40 diesel-electric road switcher locomotive have been, and continue to be, used by multiple passenger railroads in North America. For passenger service, the locomotives required extra components for providing steam or head-end power (HEP) for heating, lighting and electricity in passenger cars. Most of these passenger locomotives were rebuilt from older freight locomotives, while some were built as brand new models.

EMD GP16

The EMD GP16 was a series of rebuilt road switcher diesel-electric locomotives, a result of a remanufacturing program initiated by the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL) in an effort to spare the cost of purchasing new motive power in the late 1970s. This involved the rebuilding of their aging fleet of EMD GP7, GP9, and GP18 road switchers. 155 locomotives were rebuilt by the SCL.

Bay Colony Railroad

The Bay Colony Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Massachusetts.

EMD GP10

The EMD GP10 is a road switcher diesel-electric locomotive that is the result of rebuilding a GP7, GP9 or GP18.

EMD GP8 EMD GP7 and GP9 locomotives rebuilt by ICG’s Paducah Shops

A GP8 is a four-axle road switcher diesel locomotive rebuilt by Illinois Central's Paducah shops using a General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) GP7, GMD GP7 or GP9 as a start. It is similar to the GP10 and GP11.

ALCO RS-3m

The ALCO RS-3m is a diesel-electric locomotive rebuilt from an ALCO RS-3 road switcher. There are many variations with various spotting features, the common features being the ALCO RS-3 frame, trucks, and usually cab and short hood. Railroads started rebuilding their RS-3 fleets early on because of the unreliability of the ALCO 244 prime movers. The standard practice among railroads which rebuilt diesel locomotives in a manner which differed from its original configuration was to add to its original model designation an "m" for modified, an "r" for rebuilt, or a "u" for upgraded, although some railroads created a new designation, as when the Green Bay & Western reclassified its upgraded RS-3's as RS-20's.

EMD SD20

The SD20 is the product of a rebuilding program by the Illinois Central Gulf's Paducah Shops as a conversion from the EMD SD7, EMD SD-24, SD-24B (cabless), and EMD SD35 locomotives. The program involved rebuilding the 567 engine to 645E with 2000 horsepower rating, eliminating the turbocharger if equipped with one, upgrading the electronics to Dash 2 technology, and adding cabs to the B units. A total of 42 units were rebuilt. Original heritage of the rebuilt units was 3 Union Pacific SD7s, 4 Union Pacific SD24s, 10 Union Pacific SD24Bs, 21 Southern SD24s, and 4 Baltimore and Ohio SD35s. Many of the units to be rebuilt were purchased from Precision National. Three of the ex-Southern SD24s wore Precision reporting marks. The locomotives were rebuilt between August 1979 and December 1982. Road Numbers assigned were 2000-2041. Unit 2041 was the very last Paducah rebuild.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "IC 8000 Series Locomotive Roster". Illinois Central.Net.
  2. ↑ RR Picture Archives http://rrpicturearchives.net.Missing or empty |title= (help)[ full citation needed ]
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