Railroad Forums 

  • Status of the GP7s and GP9s

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1151231  by Reader#108
 
This forum should be changed to GP9's, as the surviving GP7's are no longer owned by Pan Am :-)

I would imagine that you will start to see the GP9's drop off the roster shortly here.....

they are struggling to keep the regular power running, never mind these poor machines
 #1152192  by guilfordrailfan
 
Actually there were no heritage units repainted last year. The last one, MEC 52, was painted Nov 2011. At the present time there are only six GP9's still owned and rostered by Pan Am. Of those, only one is in service, BM 77 at East Deerfield. Supposedly, the "Heritage" repaint program is not dead, but it is most certainly inactive. The GP9's are extremely old and tired machines. They could still be decent yard and local power if sufficient resources were invested in their mechanical deficiencies. So far, except for the paint and little else, that has not happened. Quite honestly, I don't see it happening either. But that is just my opinion and I hope I'm wrong.
 #1152198  by MEC407
 
I think you hit the nail on the head, Bill. I like the antiques just as much as anyone else, but that's exactly what they are: antiques. Are there other railroads still using GP9s? Sure, but most of them have been extensively rebuilt (multiple times in some cases) or remanufactured. Some of the B&M GP9s were rebuilt back in the day, but that was a very long time ago and they're now way overdue for another full rebuild. At a certain point it's just not economical to do so. PAR's limited resources would be better spent on dragging a few of the GP40s out of the deadline, rebuilding them into GP38-2 equivalents, and using them in the yards and on the branch jobs.
 #1259562  by MEC407
 
I was thinking of the GP7s recently, and I kind of miss them. I used to see 10, 12, 15, 25, and 470 a lot on various locals and yard jobs. They seemed to run pretty well, and then it was like they disappeared almost overnight.
 #1259585  by 690
 
Used to see them all the time in Oakland, and most of them put on a pretty good smokeshow. And listening to 567's struggling to move ~20 loaded boxcars was incredible, especially on the relatively quiet days where you could hear them coming from a distance. I just wish I had been able to get more pictures of them.
 #1259586  by MEC407
 
Same here. More pictures, and I wish it would have occurred to me to shoot some video of them. Hindsight is 20/20!
 #1291799  by jaymac
 
newpylong » Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:54 am
Here are two photos of yours truly in 2006 or so that I found. They were great engines.

Dag! That visi vest musta bin straight outta the wrapper! Nary an oil smudge!
There was a time when EMD ruled the rails instead of being a serial corporate cast-off.
 #1291885  by B&M 1227
 
That first shot is Buskirk... any idea where the second shot was taken? Hoosick Junction?
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