Southern Pacific 5623

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Southern Pacific 5623
NCRyTrain2006.jpg
Southern Pacific 5623 pulling a passenger train on the Niles Canyon Railway
Type and origin
Power type Diesel-electric
Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
Model EMD GP9
EMD GP9R
Build date1955
Rebuild date1977
Specifications
Configuration:
   AAR B-B
Gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Trucks EMD Blomberg B
Wheel diameter40 in (1.016 m)
Minimum curve 21° (273 ft (83.21 m) radius)
Wheelbase 40 ft (12.19 m)
Length56 ft 2 in (17.12 m)
Width10 ft 3+12 in (3.14 m)
Height15 ft 12 in (4.58 m)
Loco weight259,500 lb (117,700 kg)
Fuel capacity1,100 US gal (4,200 L; 920 imp gal)
Prime mover EMD 16-567C
RPM range835 max
Engine type V16 Two-stroke diesel
Aspiration Roots blower
Displacement9,072 cu in (148.66 L)
Generator EMD D-12-B
Traction motors (4) EMD D-37-B
Cylinders 16
Cylinder size 8+12 in × 10 in (216 mm × 254 mm)
Performance figures
Maximum speed65 mph (105 km/h)
Power output1,750  hp (1.30 MW)
Tractive effort 64,750 lbf (288.0 kN)
Career
Operators Southern Pacific Transportation Company
Niles Canyon Railway
Numbers5623 (1955-1966), 3005 (1966-1977), 3189 (1977-2005), NCRy (SP) 5623 (2005-present)
Locale Oregon, then San Francisco, California
Retired1991
Restored1993
DispositionOperational

Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) locomotive number 5623 is a passenger service-equipped "torpedo boat" version of an EMD GP9R diesel locomotive, built in 1955. SP 5623 featured a steam generator, dual control stands, and was delivered in the "black widow" paint scheme. [1] [2]

Contents

SP 5623's first assignments were passenger trains in Oregon, and then spent the rest of its passenger service career in the San Francisco Bay Area, pulling such trains as the Senator,Sacramento Daylight,Del Monte, and the San Francisco Peninsula commuter trains. [1] [2] [3] [4]

SP 5623 was renumbered 3005 and painted into the grey and scarlet "bloody nose" paint scheme in 1966. After Amtrak assumed intercity passenger train service in 1971, SP 5623 (then numbered 3005) and all other SP passenger locomotives were assigned only to the SF Peninsula commuter trains. [2] It was renumbered 3189 in 1977 after being rebuilt as a part of the SP's GRIP program. In 1985, it was displaced by the arrival of Caltrain equipment. It was then placed into local freight service for the rest of its regular service years. [1] [3] [4]

SP5623 operating on the Niles Canyon Railway Sourthern Pacific 5623 GM EMD GP9 diesel electric locomotive.jpg
SP5623 operating on the Niles Canyon Railway

SP 5623 was retired in 1991 and was purchased from a scrap dealer in 1992 by Errol Ohman and Howard Wise. The pair restored the locomotive and repainted it into its original "black widow" paint scheme and its original number (5623) in 1993. SP 5623 spent most of the 1990s working for the Oakland Terminal Railway. [1] [3] [4]

It travelled to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California for the "Mini-Railfair" in 1995 and appeared in a Shell Gasoline commercial in 1997. [3] [4] It then travelled with steam locomotive Southern Pacific 2467 to "Railfair '99" in Sacramento, and in January 2005, it moved to the Niles Canyon Railway in Sunol, California, where it is used in occasional excursion service. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Southern Pacific #5623". Niles Canyon Railway. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  2. 1 2 3 Strapac (1974) , p. 23-28
  3. 1 2 3 4 Solomon (2000) , p. 74
  4. 1 2 3 4 Solomon (2000) , p. 168

See also

Further reading