EMD GP30

Technical Specifics

The EMD GP30 emerged in the early 1960s as General Motors' Electro-Motive Division responded to serious competitive pressure from a resurgent General Electric. GE's U25B, which offered 2,500 horsepower and a modern sealed-hood design engineered with maintenance accessibility in mind, was drawing favorable attention and orders from American railroads. EMD's existing GP20 produced only 2,000 horsepower, and the company's engineering staff recognized that a more capable locomotive was needed quickly. The result was a 2,250-horsepower road switcher built on the B-B wheel arrangement, powered by the 16-cylinder 567D3 prime mover. Though its output fell short of both the U25B and ALCO's contemporary RS-27, EMD wagered that the proven reliability of its equipment and the familiarity of railroad mechanical departments with EMD products would carry the day. The gamble paid off. Production ran from July 1961 through November 1963, during which time 948 units were delivered, compared to 476 U25Bs sold over a considerably longer sales window extending to 1966. EMD's marketing department chose to designate the new locomotive the GP30 rather than the internally considered GP22, partly to suggest a generational leap beyond GE's numbering and partly to support promotional claims of thirty distinct improvements over the GP20. The styling of the locomotive was entrusted to the GM Automotive Styling Center in Troy, Michigan, whose designers gave the GP30 its distinctive high-profile hood and the characteristic stepped, humped roofline behind the cab that made the type immediately recognizable among American motive power. The largest single buyers were the Southern Railway with 120 units, the Union Pacific with 111, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe with 85, and the Baltimore and Ohio with 77. Union Pacific was the only railroad to order cabless B units, taking 40 of them, thirteen of which were equipped with steam generators for passenger train heating service. The GP30's legacy extended well beyond its relatively brief production run. Several railroads found the locomotives durable enough to justify substantial rebuilding programs rather than retirement. Burlington Northern sent units to EMD, Morrison Knudsen, and VMV Paducahbilt for rebuilding to GP39-series standards, with upgraded 12-645D3 engines rated at 2,300 horsepower and Dash-2 control systems. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe undertook its own comprehensive rebuilding at Cleburne, Texas, producing the GP30u variant with 645-series power assemblies boosting output to 2,500 horsepower. Other roads including the Chessie System, Illinois Central Gulf, and the Soo Line performed their own modifications. The fact that a number of GP30s remained in revenue service more than fifty years after construction stands as a testament to the soundness of the basic design, far exceeding the twenty-five to thirty year service life typically expected of a diesel locomotive of that era.

Model Train Manufacturers

Brands that produce EMD GP30 in HO scale

Prototype Reference

Real-world information about this equipment type

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