The EMD GP38 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and December 1971. The locomotive's prime mover was an EMD 645 16-cylinder engine that generated . The company built 706 GP38s for North American railroads.

In 1972, EMD began making an updated model, the GP38-2, as part of its Dash-2 line.

Original orders

Rebuilds

A number of GP38s have been rebuilt into the equivalent of a GP38-2.

Conversely, a number of higher horsepower 40 Series locomotives have been rebuilt into the equivalent of a GP38-2 (GP38AC), by the removal of the turbocharger and the substitution of twin Roots blowerss.

In 2007, Norfolk Southern rebuilt #2911 which is an ex Penn Central GP38 into an experimental zero-emissions Battery-Electric locomotive known as the Altoona Works BP4. The new locomotive was renumbered as NS #999. It has since been sold to Rail Propulsions Systems, where it was upgraded for eventual use in the Los Angeles Basin region.

Preservation

• Baltimore & Ohio #3802 is preserved at the National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation in Baltimore, Maryland. It has been restored in its Chessie System paint scheme and is operational.

• Maine Central (MEC) #252 and #255 operate on the Conway Scenic Railroad as their #252 and #255 respectively. #255 was acquired in 2021. Both units wear the Conway Scenic's paint scheme.

• Penn Central 7706 is preserved on the West Chester Railroad as their 7706. It operates on tourist trains on the former PRR line. It wears the West Chester Railroad's paint scheme.

• Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines 2000, is preserved on the Cape May Seashore Lines in Tuckahoe, New Jersey.

• Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railway (TAG) 80, is preserved in operating condition at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

See also

• List of GM-EMD locomotives

• List of GMD Locomotives

References

• Sarberenyi, Robert. EMD GP38 and GP38AC Original Owners

External links