Description
Improving upon its predecessor, the GP35, the GP40 would go on to be one of EMDs best-sellers of the “1966-series”, with over 1,200 examples sold to railroads in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from 1966 to 1971. Many examples are still in service today working in local service on Class I Railroads, or on shortline and regional rosters.
Our Rivet Counter™ series model faithfully reproduces this EMD classic by rendering the numerous variations of each production phase, with unique cab, headlight, warning light, doors, grilles, dynamic brakes, and truck types and configurations. We’ve also incorporated LED lighting effects including front, rear, and side walkway lights; ground lights; printed and lighted number boards; and ditch lights (per the prototype).
Learn more by clicking the “Product Details” tab below.
Road Number-Specific ScaleTrains
- All-new model
- Era: 1976
- Series WP 3527-3544, built 8-9/1971
- Road number WP 1776 (ex-WP 3540)
- Repainted into commemorative U.S.A. Bicentennial scheme in March 1976
- Wavy ’76 U.S. flag painted on sides of cab
- Black cab window gaskets
- Unique spacing of stars on sidesill
- Road number WP 1976 (ex-WP 3541)
- Repainted into commemorative U.S.A. Bicentennial scheme in May/June 1976
- Straight 50-star U.S. flag painted on sides of cab
- White cab window gaskets
- Unique spacing of stars on sidesill
- Round placards with Great Seal of the U.S. attached to side handrails
- Fully-assembled
- Multiple road numbers
- LED-illuminated ground lights on both sides of locomotive*
- LED-Illuminated rectangular walkway lights mounted between front and rear sanding valve doors, and round walkway light aft of raised walkway duct*
- LED-illuminated Pyle-National (Translite) #20585 “Gyralite” dual signal light (clear and red lenses) mounted in low short hood*
- LED-illuminated tri-color, flush-mounted front and rear class lights with raised gaskets
- Printed number boards with separately-controlled, backlit LED-illumination*
- Tall “Western” style pilot plow with grab irons on front, and rear “late” MU hose catch box with “Morton” round-hole footboards
- 3-hose multiple unit (MU) hose groups with mounting bracket and gladhand detail
- Semi-scale coupler buffers equipped with durable metal semi-scale Type E knuckle couplers
- Front angled uncoupling lever without loop handles, and rear straight uncoupling lever without loop handles
- Square-corner pilot face, front and rear
- Full-width grab iron above uncoupling lever on front and rear pilot faces
- “Late” tall deck-mounted multiple-unit (MU) receptacles, front and rear
- “Tall” stepwells with “zig-zag” pilots, front and rear
- End handrails with deck-mounted stanchions, front and rear
- Front and rear early small deck extension
- Positionable straight (late) drop steps, front and rear
- Late treadplate
- 81” low short hood with ratchet handbrake
- Late drop grabs and standard nut-bolt-washer (NBW) mounting on nose front and top
- Latched battery box doors with narrow louvers and tab-style (early) hinges
- Early cab sub-base doors with non-terminating reinforcement ribs, both sides
- Dual right rear cab steps
- Late cab step guards (short taper)
- Hopper water piping underneath front battery box step
- Standard EMD high headlight with glare visors in numberboard housing
- “35-Line” cab with standard front windshields, and standard armrests, both sides
- Detailed cab interior with separate floor, cab blowers, rear wall, early seats, and standard AAR control stand
- Positionable cab side windows
- Tall mirror mounted ahead of cab window, fireman’s side
- Standard EMD sunshades with long mounting tracks
- Lost-wax cast brass Nathan AirChime M5 (M5R24) horn mounted on number board housing
- Motorola ASP-16 “Firecracker” communications antenna mounted to cab roof
- Long hood with standard electrical cabinet seam, bolted generator compartment door, and late inertial drain hole placement (close spacing on engineer’s side, high on fireman’s side)
- Small ECAFB
- Late (ribbed) blower duct housing
- Late long handrail stanchion spacing with all “tall” stanchions overall
- Early inertial air intake grilles without drip rails
- Standard turbo exhaust stack
- Dynamic Brake Housing
- Late standard-range dynamic brake housing (long tapers), with rectangular vent
- See-through 48” dynamic brake fan housing mounted on riser ring with 10-blade fan and hub assembly, with concentric-ring grill
- Dynamic brake intakes with see-through intake vanes, and resistor grid detail inside of the housing
- Rectangular-mesh radiator intake screening
- See-through standard-height 48” radiator fan housings with 8-blade fan and hub assembly
- Separately-applied radiator core detail mounted inside of long hood, visible under radiator fans
- Curved radiator fan grab iron
- Rear LED-illuminated horizontal headlight and standard housing
- Early rear sander door catch placement (inboard)
- Underbody frame rails with separately-applied plumbing and traction motor cable bundle details
- Detailed Blomberg-B truck frames (LFM-cast) with Hyatt bearing housings, separately-applied brake cylinders in released (piston retracted) position, elliptical springs, end transom detail, separate sanding lines and brackets, and separate swing hanger detail
- Separately-applied flexible neoprene sanding lines at both ends of trucks
- Rust-color painted wheelsets
- “Aeroquip” brand speed recorder with adapter flange mounted to left #1 axle
- Standard 4 jacking pads
- Frame-mounted bell
- Salem-brand #824-170 and #818-170 primary and secondary centrifugal air filters, respectively (accordion-style)
- Separately-applied brake vent regulator valve and plumbing detail on underbody
- 3600-gallon fuel tank with late mounting brackets, inset dial gauge on both sides, and early rear drain bar
- Separately-applied fuel fillers, drains, and breather piping on fuel tanks
- Separately-applied engine oil sump drain fitting with hose
- Separately-applied radiator water drain fitting on underbody
- Separately-applied truck air line plumbing on underbody above each truck, both sides
- Separately-applied wireform grab irons, wireform lift rings, etched windshield wipers, trainline hoses, sand hatch covers, and more
- Motor with 5-pole skew-wound armature
- Dual flywheels
- All-wheel drive
- All-wheel electrical pick-up
- Directional LED-illuminated headlights
- Printing and lettering legible even under magnification
- Operates on Code 70, 83, and 100 rail
- Packaging safely stores model
- Minimum radius: 18”
- Recommended Radius: 22”
DCC & sound-equipped locomotives also feature:
- ESU LokSound 5 DCC & Sound decoder with “Full Throttle” functions
- Two (2) cube-type speakers
- Turbocharged EMD 16-645 prime mover sounds
- ESU designed “PowerPack” with two super capacitors****
- Operates on both DC and DCC layouts
DC/DCC & sound ready locomotives also feature:
- Operates on DC layouts
- DCC-ready with 21-pin connector
* Lighting features operate when using an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC
** In DC operation, both front ditch lights illuminate; rear ditch lights (if equipped) do not illuminate
*** Class lights illuminate in white color only in DC operation. Access and changing colors an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC
**** “PowerPack” feature only compatible with appropriately programmed ESU decoders operating on a DCC layout
In May of 1965, a strange new locomotive model would roll out of the EMD’s La Grange (McCook), Illinois locomotive plant. Clad in black, this new 4-axle unit simply wore the number “433A” on its cab sides and number boards. From the walkway on down, it resembled a late-production GP35, with a thinner sill at the midsection, and a deeper fuel tank, but above the walkways, one could tell this was something different.
While the equipment layout resembled that of a GP35, the radiators at the end of the locomotive were unlike anything else in the EMD lineup, featuring three 48” radiator fans instead of the dual 48” and single 36” arrangement of the GP35. Moreover, the new model featured flared radiator intakes, hinting at deeper radiator cores to dissipate the heat from increased horsepower output. This new locomotive, the GP40X (not to be confused with the GP50 testbed model of the same name introduced in 1977), was a harbinger of things to come: the GP40.
From the technology tested on the 433A, the GP40 was formally introduced in late 1965, with an order of 50 units for New York Central. The GP40 was designed with lessons learned from its predecessor, the GP35. Among them was an improved electrical control cabinet, designed for more reliable operation and ease of maintenance compared to the complex control scheme of the GP35. Built on a longer frame than the GP35, the GP40 could be optioned for a fuel tank capacity of up to 3,600 gallons. Most importantly, the GP40 introduced a new prime mover series for EMD: the 645.
With the previous 567-series having reached its practical limits for horsepower output, the 645 series would reduce overall stresses on the prime mover thanks to a larger cylinder bore (645 referring to the displacement of each cylinder) and allow for higher horsepower output, and would go on to become one of their most popular prime mover designs in all of railroading. The GP40 would feature a turbocharged 16-cylinder variant of the 645, producing 3,000hp, making the new locomotive model suitable for all types of service.
The GP40 would quickly prove to be popular with the railroads of the day, with over 1,200 built before production ended in 1971. With its relatively high-power output spread over four axles, allowing for quick acceleration, GP40s would prove to be useful on relatively light, high-speed trains, such as the early intermodal trains of the era. Penn Central (PC) would wind up as the largest original GP40 owner, acquiring 170 units over multiple orders. Despite the eastern road’s struggles, consists of black GP40s could be found all over the system handling all kinds of freight, eventually trading their somber black paint for bright Conrail blue.
Another major owner was the Baltimore & Ohio, who was just behind PC with a grand total of 161 units purchased. These units, along with GP40s purchased by future merger partners Atlanta & West Point; Chesapeake & Ohio; Georgia Group; Louisville & Nashville; Richmond, Fredericksburg, & Potomac; Seaboard Air Line; Seaboard Coast Line; and Western Maryland, would eventually be distilled down to eastern giant CSX, which ultimately resulted in a huge palette of GP40 paint schemes and variety under one roof.
Out west, the GP40 found a ready buyer in the Denver & Rio Grande Western, who bought a total of 43 units, with their 1969 delivery, D&RGW 3081-3085, being distinctive in being their first factory new units delivered in the flying Rio Grande “billboard” lettering scheme. They joined the road’s other 4-axle road units in service at the time, including GP30s and GP35s, in all kinds of service. They could be found locking couplers with the 6-axle units in the road’s fleet working coal drags, all the way to hot intermodal trains.
Western Pacific Railroad would acquire a sizable fleet of 44 units, with initial orders sporting large Pyle-National “barrel” headlights front and rear, along with their attractive orange and silver “Zephyr” paint scheme. Later deliveries would do away with that bright livery in favor of the “Perlman” scheme of dark green with orange chevron striping front and rear. These units would settle into a routine on the “Wobbly” alongside the rest of the roads’ fleet, which was exclusively 4-axle, before joining merger partner Union Pacific’s roster in 1982.
Santa Fe would take the title of “hard luck” GP40 owner, acquiring a single unit, TP&W 1000, through 1983 merger partner Toledo, Peoria, & Western, which itself was a former EMD “loaner” unit #21 that originally spent time on the Penn Central. After formally joining the AT&SF roster in 1984, the lone GP40, renumbered to AT&SF 2964 and repainted into their blue and yellow bonnet scheme, operated alongside Santa Fe’s other 4-axle units, but was destroyed in a wreck in 1988, lasting only a scant four years as a Santa Fe unit.
Overall, the GP40 would be a popular model for the builder, with many units sold new and lasting throughout the lives of their original owners, and in many cases, into their successors. As they lived through the typical depreciation cycle, many would be retired and sold off to new owners by the 1980s-90s. Rebuild programs would also find many cast-off GP40s finding new life for new owners, being overhauled and in many cases, having upgrades, such as Dash-2 (or equivalent) electrical systems, installed to improve their reliability and performance.
Southern Pacific, which skipped the GP40 altogether (aside from 8 purchased new by its subsidiary Cotton Belt), would amass a sizable fleet of rebuilt GP40s via rebuilder Morrison-Knudsen, designated GP40M-2, that appeared in the early 1990s. Coming from a variety of original owners, these rebuilt units were a needed shot in the arm for the power-short railroad. Chicago & North Western was another railroad that took advantage of “cheap” secondhand GP40s, acquiring a number of former NYC/PC/CR GP40s in the mid-80s for all types of service on the road.
Another popular rebuild option was to use a GP40 core unit as a basis for a 2,000hp “GP38” conversion, eliminating the expensive turbocharger in favor of an easier to maintain Roots-blower combustion air arrangement. Some of these rebuilds saw one of the radiator fans removed and blanked out… cooling needs were reduced, thanks to the lower H.P. rating… as well as a boxy paper air filter housing added to the front of the engine compartment roofline.
The single large turbocharger exhaust would be replaced with a pair of “straight” exhaust stacks, with the end result being a relatively inexpensive to maintain, intermediate-horsepower locomotive suitable for all kinds of work. Roads like Union Pacific, which didn’t purchase GP40s new, was one of many customers for this type of rebuilt secondhand unit.
While GP40s on the mainline are a rare sight today, many are still out there putting in a solid day’s work, either for successor railroads such as BNSF and UP, or for the many shortlines and regionals that snapped up secondhand GP40s, in either original or rebuilt configurations. From the humble beginnings of a somber all-black demo, came one of EMD’s most popular 4-axle designs.
