Nostalgia & History > SP GP40X Photos

Lance,

Per your request, here are reposts of my GP40X slides. I have also posted two more that I have in my collection.

I really like the original appearance of the GP40Xs with the sound baffle panels and "overkill" lighting. Wish I could have seen them in real life.

Yardclerk

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Here is the fourth slide.

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The HT-B truck was an awesome innovative design, improving adhesion.

The 30 & 31 were the "slave" units to the 7200 & 7201. They tried them on the zipper, as an example, putting the 00 on the point and the 30 second out with no MU cable. The idea was to save fuel by having the trailing units controlled at a lower throttle setting. They never worked past Glendale on 373 and were MUed by the time they got to Wat Jct.

There were two things that made them pieces of crap. One was the ride. Lateral movement would almost knock you off the seat box and vertical movement felt like you were bottoming out. This was on 60 MPH trains.

The second was the transition. It was so severe it would knock overspeeds out on trailing power. And this was at over 50 MPH. They had EMD guys riding the power for over a month and they never did get them right. The best thing that happened was , I think it was the 7200, was on the point on the Smokie out of SLO. We picked up another unit at Oxnard and put it on the point. Along about Hewitt, we went into big hole with a jerk and the everything was stacking up behind this 7200. We finally got stopped and backed up to our old lead unit and it was on its side with a couple of refers hanging over the bridge over the freeway. (It was I-5 or the Hollywood) The engine had just had a major in Ogden and went from there to Roseville, Wat Jct and SLO. Someone in Ogden forgot to pack the traction motor bearings and it burned the lead axle in two.. It was a "E" ticket ride for the head man that was riding back in then second unit.


Nudge

yardclerk Wrote:
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>>
> I really like the original appearance of the
> GP40Xs with the sound baffle panels and
> "opverkill" lighting. Wish I could have seen them
> in real life.
>
> Yardclerk


The elephant ears were designed as a test to pull air in from a lower point in tunnels, predessor to the tunnel motor. Yes, they were a great looking unit.

Learn something new every day. I had always thought that the "elephant ears" were were sound baffles. Thanks

Yardclerk

spnudge Wrote:
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> The 30 & 31 were the "slave" units to the 7200 &
> 7201. They tried them on the zipper, as an
> example, putting the 00 on the point and the 30
> second out with no MU cable. The idea was to save
> fuel by having the trailing units controlled at a
> lower throttle setting. They never worked past
> Glendale on 373 and were MUed by the time they got
> to Wat Jct.
>
> There were two things that made them pieces of
> crap. One was the ride. Lateral movement would
> almost knock you off the seat box and vertical
> movement felt like you were bottoming out. This
> was on 60 MPH trains.
>
> The second was the transition. It was so severe it
> would knock overspeeds out on trailing power. And
> this was at over 50 MPH. They had EMD guys riding
> the power for over a month and they never did get
> them right. The best thing that happened was , I
> think it was the 7200, was on the point on the
> Smokie out of SLO. We picked up another unit at
> Oxnard and put it on the point. Along about
> Hewitt, we went into big hole with a jerk and the
> everything was stacking up behind this 7200. We
> finally got stopped and backed up to our old lead
> unit and it was on its side with a couple of
> refers hanging over the bridge over the freeway.
> (It was I-5 or the Hollywood) The engine had just
> had a major in Ogden and went from there to
> Roseville, Wat Jct and SLO. Someone in Ogden
> forgot to pack the traction motor bearings and it
> burned the lead axle in two.. It was a "E" ticket
> ride for the head man that was riding back in then
> second unit.
>
>
> Nudge


Interesting units they were, but yes--on the UPRR proper--there were two classes of units that were known for the worst ride: the GP40X, and, what may come as a surprise, considering the long wheelbase, was the DDA40X Centennial. It was the unique truck design of each that contributed to this.

And yet--along with the "Fast Forties"--these were the fastest running units on the old UP system!

I can only imagine how wild the ride must have been when they started putting a UPRR GP40X on the point of the "SAN FRANCISCO ZEPHYR", running those critters at 79 MPH!!! It may even have been 90 MPH--they were equipped with cab signals--and if I recall right, the SFZ did run 90 MPH over portions of the UP in the cab signal territory. Nudge--how would you like a GP40X at 90 MPH?!?

I wouldn't mind, watching it at a distance.

They really did make with the pucker factor when they would start their slapping the rails. You know, of all the motors I ran, I would have to say they were the worst.


Nudge

Nudge:

Hewitt is over the Hollywood (170)... I remember that "little" mess you made, a nice stack right next to the lumber company!

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry

Since the ride was so bad, I wonder why SP didn't try something like changing the trucks?

PE

I love GP40X's lights/gyralite lights too. Look beautiful! :-)

cs16 Wrote:

> The elephant ears were designed as a test to pull
> air in from a lower point in tunnels, predessor to
> the tunnel motor. Yes, they were a great looking
> unit.

This is not quite right. The GP40X diesels were constructed in 1977, but the Tunnel Motors preceded them by several years, with the first SD45T-2s being constructed in 1972 and the first SD40T-2s arriving in 1974!

The GP40X's elephant ears provided the same function, similar to the experimental elephant ears applied to some SD45s that did predate the T-2s. But the implication that the GP40X was a predecessor to the Tunnel Motors is patently false.

Carl

SP_8299 Wrote:
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> Since the ride was so bad, I wonder why SP didn't
> try something like changing the trucks?
>
> PE


They would only try changing the seats.HAHA

Who'd have thunk SP 7231 would someday be CP 4521 ("GP38-2" rebuild from NRE) ?

M-636 Wrote:
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> Who'd have thunk SP 7231 would someday be CP 4521
> ("GP38-2" rebuild from NRE) ?

And, NRE did change the trucks. Gerry

The HTB was a great advance in weight shift compared to the GP swinghanger truck - the weight shift within the truck was nearly zero under adhesion whereas the GP is pretty bad. However, the advent of super series wheel slip control pretty much eliminated the need for a zero weight shift truck. That, combined with the increased cost of the truck and the underframe mods it required, caused its early demise. I am confident the ride would have been fixed if there were enough of them out there. In principle, it has softer primary springs then the GP and more deflection in the secondary as well compared to the GP with compression rubber springs, the standard at the time. I suspect the lateral stiffness of the secondary chevrons was the source of the rough lateral ride, but with some tweaking of the chevron angle, that could have been reduced. But the GP with its swinghangers is about as soft laterally as practical, and the +/- 2.25 inches travel to the secondary suspension stops is huge by comparison to other trucks. I'm not sure what profile wheels the GP40X's were delivered with but when used to pull passenger trains it was recommended they change the profile to 1:40, as used on the F40PH, to limit hunting.

Incidentally, in 1984 the only remaining spare HTB frame in LaGrange was used to fabricate the first prototype of a radial truck, which eventually led to the HTCR truck.