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GMD1 back in service

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GMD1 back in service
Posted by Dmacleo on Saturday, June 30, 2018 2:21 PM

I see, from this months (page 19) magazine, 3 GMD1 units being put back in service for CN.

anyone know if there will be people filming them? I am unable to myself but always liked vids of these units.

Tags: gmd1 , gmd-1
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Posted by Danielmlib on Saturday, January 19, 2019 10:26 PM

In the late 1950's into the early 1960's GMD had created an exclusively Canadian model to be named the GMD-1 when CN and northern Alberta railway were the exclusive customers.  By the time the units were needing rebuilds and modifications in the late 1970's into the early 1980's northern Alberta railway had folded into CN making it the primary owner of the unit.  At the same time CN had sold upwards of two dozen to Cuba.  Today CN has upwards of 16 units on the roster while a dozen are operational.

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Wednesday, January 23, 2019 3:47 PM
Port of Coos Bay in Oregon has been operating one of the GMD1s for a few months now.
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Posted by Dmacleo on Wednesday, January 23, 2019 4:30 PM

Danielmlib

In the late 1950's into the early 1960's GMD had created an exclusively Canadian model to be named the GMD-1 when CN and northern Alberta railway were the exclusive customers.  By the time the units were needing rebuilds and modifications in the late 1970's into the early 1980's northern Alberta railway had folded into CN making it the primary owner of the unit.  At the same time CN had sold upwards of two dozen to Cuba.  Today CN has upwards of 16 units on the roster while a dozen are operational.

 

 

I know that and while I appreciate the info its not what I was looking for. I wanted to know if any professional videographers were filiming them back in service.

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, January 24, 2019 3:09 PM

Dmacleo
I wanted to know if any professional videographers were filming them back in service.

I'd be surprised if they weren't.

Whether or not they'd post about it here, or advertise the result in Trains, is of course less certain.

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Posted by Dmacleo on Thursday, January 24, 2019 3:22 PM

Overmod

 

 
Dmacleo
I wanted to know if any professional videographers were filming them back in service.

 

I'd be surprised if they weren't.

Whether or not they'd post about it here, or advertise the result in Trains, is of course less certain.

 

yeah good point but...figured I'd ask.

always liked these units due to their rarities/oddities, course I am also a BL2 fan so I am prob not right in the head LOL

 

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, January 24, 2019 3:28 PM

Dmacleo
course I am also a BL2 fan so I am prob not right in the head LOL

I too find them fascinating, although for the life of me I don't understand why the BL2s have those noses, awkward looking but still expensively fabricated.  (It wasn't just an EMD problem; look at some of the 'test paintings' of the proposed Alco equivalents in the late '40s, some of which were actively weird...)

Suspect a request to Kalmbach might produce a Newswire or blog post when 'coverage' of the reactivated GMD-1s becomes available.

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Posted by M636C on Thursday, January 24, 2019 6:27 PM

In the USA, EMD's RS1325 was pretty much the same thing although the only two had low noses, and used USA switcher components....

Peter.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, January 25, 2019 8:02 AM

The RS1325 pretty much looked like an SW1200 with a GP18 cab and short hood.  It rode on Flexicoil trucks. 

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by YoHo1975 on Monday, January 28, 2019 11:36 AM
I wouldn't compare them to the RS1325. I'd compare them to the NW5 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/GN_192_Duluth.JPG/1280px-GN_192_Duluth.JPG
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Posted by Leo_Ames on Monday, January 28, 2019 12:03 PM

Except the RS1325 was pretty much the US equivalent of the BB trucked version of the GMD-1, rather than a road switcher variant of the by then long out of production NW2.

Biggest single difference with the GMD-1 was a newer 12-567D instead of the Canadian's C block. Rest of it essentially was cosmetic, with the Canadian counterpart having custom hoods and cab while the American version looked like what it was, an elongated SW1200 on Flexicoil road trucks with a short hood tacked on behind the cab.

I believe the short hood as designed was even meant for the same purpose, to house a steam generator. The US version never was equipped with it of course (Were bathroom facilities installed instead?), but the BB trucked versions of the GMD-1 all had a steam generator in the short hood out of the factory.

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Monday, January 28, 2019 5:34 PM
Except that the NW5 has the same shorthood shape as the GMD-1 whereas the RS1325 has a much different short hood. The NW5 was also equipped with a Steam Generator in the short hood. In Fact, the NW3 was the first extended switcher with a steam generator although it doesn't look like the NW5/GMD-1. In either case, from a timeline and design standpoint, the GMD-1 is undeniably a decedent of the NW5...the RS1325 came out after the GMD-1 and so could be considered the next in the evolution. Though only 2 were sold.

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