GP38 time of Service

[hwolf]

My layout is modeled in the 1950's period. I would like to know if the GP-38 was in service at that time.
Thank
Harold

[ndbprr]

Nope! Not until the mid 70's at the earliest.

[Anonymous]

The 50's are about a decade too early. GP38's didn't come out unitl 1966.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Guilford350

The 50's are about a decade too early. GP38's didn't come out unitl 1966.

IIRC, GP20s and GP18s weren't even available in the '50s (or were they available in the end of '59?).

---jps

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jschuknecht

QUOTE: Originally posted by Guilford350

The 50's are about a decade too early. GP38's didn't come out unitl 1966.

IIRC, GP20s and GP18s weren't even available in the '50s (or were they available in the end of '59?).

---jps

Yes, the GP18 and GP20 were introduced at the end of 1959. The SD24 came in mid-1958.

[alstom]

No, my "Diesel Roster Guide" book says that they were not available until the mid-1970s.

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by alstom

No, my "Diesel Roster Guide" book says that they were not available until the mid-1970s.

Then it is wrong. The GP38 came out some time in the mid-1960s. The GP38-2 should have been introduced in 1972. If you have a book that says GP38s were introduced in the mid-1970s, throw it in the garbage.

[SSW9389]

The first GP38s were serial #31064-31068 01-02/66 (order #7844) and owned by the
Detroit Toledo & Ironton #200-204. Diesel data from A J Kristopans. Thank you.
[8D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by alstom

No, my "Diesel Roster Guide" book says that they were not available until the mid-1970s.

Maybe that particular guide is referring to the acquisitions of a particular group of railroads, where they didn't start getting them until that time. But EMD started producing GP/SD 38/39/40 engines in the mid-60s. Maybe there is a confusion between the original GP38 and a GP38-2 engine (which was a significant upgrade).

---jps

[Anonymous]

The book THE HIGH PLAINS ROUTE by Richard Kistler shows a GP-40 in CB&Q (not BN)paint with the caption "In 1968, the Burlington ordered 20 GP40s to add to their fleet of 20 such units purchased two years earlier." If they had not been available til the mid 70s they would have been in BN paint. It's the "da***wo" versions of the GP-38 and 40 that came out in the 1970s. Visual spotting differences include the site glass on the side of the da***wos and there are differences in the trucks on the da***wos compared to the 1960s units.

Ed

[balearic]

QUOTE: EMD GP38

An EMD GP38 is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and December 1971. Power was provided by an EMD 645 16-cylinder engine which generated 2000 horsepower (1.5 MW).

466 examples of this locomotive model were built for American railroads, 21 were built for Canadian railroads and 6 were built for Mexican railroads.

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=EMD+GP38&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&linktext=EMD%20GP38

So, as others have said, they wouldn't be prototypically correct for a 1950s layout, Harold.

[bogp40]

If you really like the GP38, run it anyway. Pretend it went though the Time Tunnel...........

[jxtrrx]

Robert,
I like the way you think!