Nostalgia & History > GP30 Thursday: Grain in Sublette

It’s Thursday! That mean it’s time to look at another one of those unique class of ‘61 creations from EMD called GP30. I can’t cite the actual quote from back in the 70s(?), but I believe Trains magazine once talked about the venerable GP30 saying something to the effect of: “…heavy brow & muscular shoulders”. And if the mag didn’t print such a thing, maybe they shoulda woulda could have…

1. AT&SF 2778 leads a westbound consist with the 2930 & the 2852, servicing a grain elevator in Sublette, KS on October 18, 1991.
Original Kodachrome slide by Tom Carlson from the Daniel Archer collection

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Daniel Archer (SKOChief)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/22 04:01 by santafe199.

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Were the two sides of the GP-30's cab different lengths" Due to an extra seat for brakeman? or??

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

JimBaker Wrote: > ... GP-30's cab different lengths ... ?? ...

Every GP30 cab I was ever in ws the same on both sides...

Lance/199

Thank you for the correction....  I had heard this from somewhere.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

JimBaker Wrote:

> Were the two sides of the GP-30's cab different
> lengths" Due to an extra seat for brakeman?

Some GP30 cabs were a little longer on the fireman's side.  ATSF 1258 in this photo is an example - note how the cab side window has more cab wall behind it than in front of it:

http://rr-fallenflags.org/atsf/atsf1258dsa.jpg

While on the engineer's side of 1258, the window is more or less centered:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4234401

Not all GP30's had the extra length on the fireman's side - compare that first photo of 1258 with this one of 1224:

http://rr-fallenflags.org/atsf/atsf1224gea.jpg

This page includes a listing of unofficial but conventionally useful GP30 "phases" including the ones with extended cabs (1224 is a "Phase Ia" and 1258 is a "Phase Id"):

http://www.trainweb.org/jaydeet/gp30.htm

Nice post , Lance.  I guess they were loading milo at that time of the year.

Randy Lundgren

Evan_Werkema Wrote: > ... Some GP30 cabs were a little longer on the fireman's side ... 

That was interesting enough for me to go digging back through my SFe timebooks. Turns out the vast majority of the very few GP30s I was in with while working for Uncle John were in switch engine shifts at North Wichita or Sand Creek (Newton). And an average switchman spends upwards of 90% of his time on the ground, so I never really noticed any differences. In an ironic twist, while browsing through my SFe GP30 roster/consist file I found this image I posted back in '15:  

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3706548,3706548#msg-3706548 

Lance



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/20 09:52 by santafe199.

JimBaker Wrote:
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> Were the two sides of the GP-30's cab different
> lengths" Due to an extra seat for brakeman? or??

The 'left' side of the cab was lengthened after the first group of units to allow for an auxiliary cab heater.  The factory cab heaters used hot water from the cooling system, and the single heater provided as 'stock' proved inadequate in service.

A 2nd heater was added on the 'left' side and the 'bump-out' also provided space for a small 'tool box' locker.  In later years, the cab heaters were replaced (at least on ex-NKP GP30's) with electric heaters off a 60A 74VDC circuit, which made it simpler to winterize the units by not having to drain the extra 60 feet of pipe/tubing back to the engine room.