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Pennsylvania Railroad Diesel Locomotive Pictorial Vol 8 Early EMD road switchers
Pennsylvania Railroad Volume 8 by Paul Withers
Soft Cover
Copyright 2003
64 Pages
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 562
Introduction and Abbreviations 564
EMD GP7 565
EMD GP9 587
EMD SD7 653
EMD SD9 655
Index 664
This book is the eighth in a series that documents the various types of diesel-electric locomotives operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Each book includes a roster, area assignment, and specifications for each model covered. It is not a history of the development of each model by the manufacturer nor a tracking of happenings to each unit after merger with the New York Central into the Penn Central. These subjects are worthy of comprehensive studies of their own. It also does not delve into so-called production phases of the units as invented by railfans. Changes within each model occurred virtually from order to order and sometimes from unit to unit as they progressed through production. Some were visible, but many were internal and not detectable by viewing locomotives from the outside.
One item worth noting is the assignment of road numbers. While not as promiscuous as those of the steam roster, the numbers were not originally planned with regard to keeping the same make and model in a number block reserved for ease of identification. At first, the road numbers were assigned when steam engines were either scrapped previously, or in a few cases, renumbered. This resulted in the 5800-, 9500-and 9700-series numbers being an assortment of ALCo, EMD, Baldwin, and Fairbanks-Morse passenger and freight cab units. In the mid-1960s, a massive renumbering program was instituted to make the PRR fleet compatible with the New York
Central fleet in preparation for the Penn Central merger.
The purpose of this series is to provide a selection of photographs to show the locomotives as an observer would see them in everyday service.
Classification, location of assignment, and special equipment information has come from the PRR official document MP-229, which was distributed across the railroad on a monthly basis. All specifications came from PRR document No. 109-L. Date of shipment or builder's dates and construction numbers are from official EMD records. The retirement dates are what PRR referred to as the "dropped from equipment record" date, as "retired" had a different meaning in PRR lingo.
EMD GP7
For a railroad that prided itself as being the "Standard Railroad of the World," PRR's GP7 fleet was anything but standard. Delivered from the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors over a 21-month span, the 66 units were equipped with a variety of options particular to the service for which they were intended.
The practice of purchasing locomotives for a specific assignment, common in the steam era, was carried over by the PRR in the early days of the diesel era, with the GP7s probably being one of the last vestiges of this procedure. The first order for 10 units, placed in May 1951 and delivered in January 1952, was scattered among four different divisions, and these units were meant to replace L-class 2-8-2s and H-class 2-8-0s in local and branch-line service. Options for these units were limited to cab signals and trainphone communications systems, making them suitable to move freight on the main line when necessary - the work handled by the L-class steamers.
Placed in November 1951 and delivered in August 1952, the second order comprised 13 units and clearly illustrates the one-diesel-for-one steamer replacement philosophy. Two of the units were equipped with steam generators to replace K4 4-6-2s in passenger service and, together with a non-equipped unit, worked in the Buffalo, N.Y., area. Five units came with dynamic brakes for use on heavily graded branch lines in central Pennsylvania, while five more units came without trainphone and without dynamic brakes. The latter were intended for use on branch lines in the carrier's electrified territory, where trainphone could not be used for technological reasons and where the operating profiles were less hilly.
PRR's third and final GP7 order, placed in June 1953 and delivered in August and September 1953, was for 43 units and they were again split, not only in the options with which they were equipped, but also in assignment. The largest group consisted of 29 units that were equipped with dynamic brakes, cab signals, and trainphone for use on branch lines in central Pennsylvania. By equipping the units with cab signals and trainphone, the units could not only work the branch lines, but also then be used to forward freight over the main line to major classification yards.
Of the remaining units, eight were equipped with steam generators for passenger service. Five of these went west to the Chicago area for Valparaiso, Ind., com muter service, two went to Williamsport, Pa., for use between that city and the Buffalo, N.Y. area, and the remaining example went to Trenton, N.J., to serve as protection power. The remaining GP7s delivered in 1953 were plain jane units earmarked for branch-line service.
Assigned to PRR's ES-15m or ES-15ms class (depending on whether the unit carried a steam generator), the GP7s arrived wearing the carrier's standard freight scheme of dark green locomotive enamel with components below the frame painted gloss black enamel. In as-delivered form, all lettering was buff yellow with both the road name (eight inches tall) and road number (six inches tall). The long hood end was designated as front on all GP7s.
During the 1950s, the GP7s remained more or less in their original assignments, but in the early 1960s, PRR shuffled several units between regions, the exception being the 29 units assigned to the Pittsburgh Region; most of them remained in their original operational area throughout their PRR careers.
At the time of the merger, the GP7 fleet was intact and was transferred to Penn Central ownership wearing 5800- and 5900-series road numbers, the latter indicating the presence of a steam generator.
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