GP38/GP38-2?

[UPJohn]

Are there any visible differences between a GP38 and a GP38-2?

[tjsmrinfo]

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/mkt/mkt300as.jpg gp38
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/mkt/mkt305abp.jpg gp38-2

i cant see any visible external differences


tom

[tigerstripe]

The most obvious is the Dash 2 water sight glass on the long hood, engineers side approx in line with the rear end of the dynamic brake blister. Also there are differences in the radiator, chicken wire / corrugated type, and the radiator fans are spaced closer together on the -2.; but these are mostly to indicate the different phases and are not neccessarily hard and fast spotting features. Just as the wide variety of trucks, from trade in AAR to Blomberg to the Type M. Its hard to tell......but the sight glass is the easiest, surefire identifier.
Also the GP38-2, has a twin the GP39-2, the only visible external difference is the single exhaust stack to indicate the turbo V12. Where the GP38-2 has two smaller exhaust stacks to indicate the normally aspirated V16.

[SSW9389]

And you could add the cab roof overhang as a Dash 2 spotting feature. The rear part of the roof on the cab of a Dash 2 slightly overhangs by an inch or two. Also the Dash 2s will have one set of the rear marker lights blanked (not installed). In other words there were two common heights for mounting the marker lights and only one was used. And according to my DSG 2 bolted on battery box covers are a Dash 2 feature.

[DanRaitz]

UPJohn,

I posted a couple of photos showing the main spotting features of EMD dash2's on the Trainboard forum. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=65644&highlight=dash2%27s
Dan

[Anonymous]

Also, on the early GP38s, the rear fans were spaced apart. Later GP38s and GP38-2s had the fans close together. However, all 12 of IANRs 38-2s are early GP38s rebuilt as Dash 2s.

note the spacing of the rear fans

heres one I modeled- the fans are close together, as on -2s and the later 38s. The actual IANR 3802 does have the fans spaced, tho

 

[dacort]

Some other things to look at on the GP38-2 are nose length, fuel tank length, truck sideframes (brake cylinder and snubber vs. two brake cylinders), rear radiator grills (there are two styles for the closely spaced fans), air filter box, and whether or not it has dynamic brakes. EMD seems to have created endless combinations with this model, so it really helps to study photos carefully if you want to be 100% accurate.

The good thing for HO modelers is that the P2K GP38-2 comes in just about all the flavors, though you may have to strip a painted model to get the right combination. I've also swapped sideframes and fuel tanks on these things. The new Atlas GP38-2 looks interesting but I haven't tried one of those.