EMD GP9

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Model of locomotive built by EMD

title: "EMD GP9" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["b-b-locomotives", "electro-motive-division-locomotives", "general-motors-diesel-locomotives", "diesel–electric-locomotives-of-the-united-states", "railway-locomotives-introduced-in-1954", "locomotives-with-cabless-variants", "standard-gauge-locomotives-of-the-united-states", "standard-gauge-locomotives-of-canada", "standard-gauge-locomotives-of-mexico", "standard-gauge-locomotives-of-venezuela", "standard-gauge-locomotives-of-peru", "broad-gauge-locomotives-in-brazil", "diesel–electric-locomotives-of-brazil", "diesel–electric-locomotives-of-canada", "diesel–electric-locomotives-of-mexico", "diesel–electric-locomotives-of-peru", "diesel–electric-locomotives-of-venezuela", "atchison,-topeka-and-santa-fe-railway-locomotives", "canadian-national-railway-locomotives", "denver-and-rio-grande-western-railroad-locomotives", "great-northern-railway-(united-states)-locomotives", "illinois-central-locomotives", "pennsylvania-railroad-locomotives", "southern-pacific-railroad-locomotives", "st.-louis-southwestern-railway", "union-pacific-railroad-locomotives"] description: "Model of locomotive built by EMD" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_GP9" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Model of locomotive built by EMD ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox locomotive"]

Field	Value
name	EMD GP9
powertype	Diesel-electric
image	Smoky Hill Railway & Historical Society 102 (GP9) (cropped).jpg
caption	A Belton, Grandview and Kansas City Railroad EMD GP9 in Belton, Missouri, in 2016
builder	General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
General Motors Diesel (GMD)
buildmodel	GP9
builddate	1954 – 1963
totalproduction	4,092 (and 165 B units)
aarwheels	B-B
uicclass	Bo'Bo'
gauge
(Brazil)
trucks	EMD Blomberg B (Flexicoil on some CN units)
wheeldiameter	40 in
minimumcurve	21° (273 ft radius)
wheelbase	40 ft
length	56 ft
width	10 ft
height	15 ft
locoweight	259500 lb
fuelcap	1100 usgal
primemover	EMD 16-567C
rpmrange	835 max
enginetype	V16 Two-stroke diesel
aspiration	Roots blower
displacement	9072 cuin
generator	EMD D-12-B
tractionmotors	(4) EMD D-37-B
cylindercount	16
cylindersize	8+1/2 x
poweroutput	1750 hp
maxspeed	65 mph
tractiveeffort	64750 lbf
locale	North America, South America
::

The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1963. The GP9 succeeded the GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, incorporating a new sixteen-cylinder engine which generated 1750 hp. This locomotive type was offered both with and without control cabs; locomotives built without control cabs were called GP9B locomotives. The GP9 was succeeded by the similar but slightly more powerful GP18.

Design and production

EMD designed the GP9 as an improved version of the GP7, with an increase in power from 1,500 hp to 1,750 hp, and a change in prime mover to the latest version of the 567 engine, the 567C. Externally, the GP9 strongly resembled its predecessor. Most were built with high short hoods, but the Southern Pacific ordered a number with low short hoods for improved crew visibility.

EMD built GP9s at its LaGrange, Illinois facility until 1959, when American production was ended in favor of the GP18. GMD production in Canada continued until August 1963, when the final GP9 was produced.

Original owners

EMD produced 4,257 GP9 locomotives, including 165 B units. 646 of the locomotives, intended for Canadian railroads, were built by General Motors Diesel, EMD's Canadian subsidiary. Approximately 75 railroads purchased GP9s. Major customers included the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (363), Illinois Central Railroad (348), Union Pacific Railroad (345, including 125 B units), Canadian National Railway (339), Pennsylvania Railroad (310, including 40 B units), Norfolk and Western Railway (306), Southern Pacific Railroad (253), and Canadian Pacific Railway (200).

Rebuilds

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Railroad-Saint-Paul-2006-11-04.jpg" caption="Two GP15Cs with the [[Red River Valley and Western Railroad]]."] ::

There were 40 GP9M units built that are included in the 3,441 units built for United States railroads. A GP9M was built with parts from another older EMD locomotive, either an F unit or a damaged GP7. The use of parts from these older locomotives caused the GP9Ms to have a lower power rating than a GP9. This would be either 1350 hp if the donor locomotive was an FT/F2 or 1500 hp from F3/F7/GP7 locomotives.

Many rebuilt GP9s remain in service today with shortline railroads and industrial operators. Some remain in rebuilt form on some major Class I railroads, as switcher locomotives although most Class 1 railroads stopped using these locomotives by the 1980s. Canadian National still had 29 GP9RM locomotives in operation, as of 2022. Canadian Pacific had many GP9u locomotives in operation; however, they were all retired in 2015.

EMD GP15C

Several GP9s were rebuilt with a 1500 hp CAT 3512 and re-classified as GP15C.

EMD GP10

Main article: EMD GP10

The Illinois Central Railroad rebuilt some of its GP9s with their front (short) hood reduced in height for improved crew visibility. The IC designated these rebuilt locomotives GP10.

Conrail (CR) would also rebuild former Penn Central (PC) GP9s into GP10s

EMD GP20C-ECO

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Canadian_Pacific_Railway_2303.jpg" caption="language=en}}"] ::

SP GP9E and GP9R

Between April 1970 and March 1979, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway (also known as the "Cotton Belt Route") and the Southern Pacific Transportation Company had rebuilt the majority of their EMD GP9 locomotives into SP GP9E and GP9R locomotives.

CN GP9RM

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/CN_7003_EMD_GP9.jpg" caption="A fleet of CN GP9RMs on January 5, 2008"] ::

The Canadian National Railway (CN) rebuilt locomotives into GP9RM, with the "RM" denoting for "Remanufactured", the first batch of 37 GP9s were rebuilt between 1981 and 1984, and were numbered as 4000 through 4036, the second batch of 44 GP9s were rebuilt in two periods, with the first 17 being rebuilt in 1984, and the remaining 27 being rebuilt between 1989 and 1991, all of which were numbered 4100 through 4143, the third batch of 84 GP9s being rebuilt in two periods, with the first 14 being rebuilt in 1985, and the remaining 70 GP9s being rebuilt between 1991 and 1993, all of which were numbered 7000 through 7083, and there was the fourth batch of 81 GP9s divided into three periods, with the first 49 being rebuilt between 1985 and 1988, the second 22 being rebuilt in 1990, and the remaining 10 being rebuilt between 1993 and 1994, all of which were numbered 7200 through 7280.

Preservation

At least 23 GP9 locomotives have been preserved at various railroad museums, as "park engines", and as excursion engines according to The Diesel Shop:

B&O 6607, originally numbered 3414, is at the B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, in operating condition.
Southern Pacific 3194, a GP9R rebuild built as Texas and New Orleans 281, is at the Golden Gate Railroad Museum, California. It is in operating condition.
Northern Pacific 245 preserved at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, currently painted as North Shore Scenic Railroad 245.
Norfolk & Western 514 was donated to the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society in August 2024. This locomotive is one of two surviving unrebuilt former N&W GP9s.

Gallery

File:CNR Yellowhead.jpg|CN GP9 leads a train up Yellowhead Pass. File:EMD GP9.jpg|An MBTA GP9 locomotive making a non-revenue move into South Station in Boston, Massachusetts. This locomotive was retired by the MBTA in 2004 and is now on static display at the Illinois Railway Museum as of September 2014. File:GP9.jpg|A modified EMD GP9 of the Seminole Gulf Railway, Fort Myers, Florida. File:GTW Loco No.4619.jpg|This GTW rebuilt GP9 4619 is heading south on the Kalamazoo spur in Kalamazoo, MI. File:BNSF 1685.JPG|Former BNSF 1685 high hood GP9 sitting in the Prairie Dog Central Yard. This was the last GP9 on the BNSF roster. File:NSSR245.jpg|Former Northern Pacific 245, operational on the North Shore Scenic Railroad in Duluth, Minnesota. File:DGVR40 Staunton WJGrimes.JPG|An EMD GP9 equipped with dynamic brakes on the Shenandoah Valley Railroad in Staunton, Virginia

Notes

References

Schafer, Mike.. (1996-11-08). "Classic American railroads".
Foster, Gerald L.. (1996). "A field guide to trains of North America". Houghton Mifflin.
Schafer, Mike. (1998). "Vintage diesel locomotives". Motorbooks International.
(2022). "Canadian Trackside Guide 2022". The Bytown Railway Society.
"Repowered Locomotives".
''Extra Twenty-two Hundred South''. Issue 113. 1997. Dover Printing. p. 37
"EMD Surviving 1st-Generation Geeps".
"B&O No.6607".
"GGRM: Collection".
"Diesel Locomotives".
(20 August 2024). "Norfolk & Western GP9 Saved for Preservation".

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