Nostalgia & History > Locomotive model ID, please!

What would you call locomotives that are, ultimately, GP9s, but with the short hood occupying only a portion of its total height, enabing the more traditional look, having the entire front windshield area, covering the front?

I know that the WM had a fleet of them, serving, especially, the Thomas Sub and points south of Elkins, WV.

Matthew 

I've always knew them as "Chop Nosed Geeps", the WM did this conversion at their shops in Hagerstown

They're still GP9's. Just been modified a bit.

As far as model, it's still a GP9. This one had its nose chopped at Hagerstown in 02/1966. In 1976, it was renumbered from 41 to 6416.
Seen here at Port Covington 04/1981.  It was sold for scrap in 03/1987, but not before finally receiving Chessie's yellow, vermillion and blue colors.
/Ted

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And considering that there were factory chop nose GP9s it's not all that different from a production chop nose.

Out 

callum_out Wrote:
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> And considering that there were factory chop nose
> GP9s it's not all that different from a production
> chop nose.
>
> Out 

Who had them other than the SP?

callum_out Wrote:
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> And considering that there were factory chop nose
> GP9s it's not all that different from a production
> chop nose.
>
> Out 

I think the factory version had a sloped nose, similar to a GP20.  Probably the biggest group of chopped-nosed Geeps were those rebuilt by the IC at Paducah.  They were referred to as GP8 and GP10, presumably because of the variety of mechanical upgrades they received.

Dave

In 1970's Chicago& NorthWestern did a big rebuild program at Oelwein with their own GP7's and 9's and a few 2nd hand Geeps as well where they did a chop nose and some other improvments. On paper they were just labeled GP7R for rebuild but all the same they were still either GP7 or 9.
JC

Posted from Android

When the GP9's nose was "chopped," what was the logic behind it?

Matthew

Cumberland Wrote:
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> When the GP9's nose was "chopped," what was the
> logic behind it?
>
> Matthew

Forward visibility.

masterphots Wrote:
> callum_out Wrote:

> > And considering that there were factory chop nose
> > GP9s it's not all that different from a production
> > chop nose.

> Who had them other than the SP?

The first factory low-nose GP9's were built in 1955 for Phelps Dodge.  They didn't have the elegantly sloped noses that EMD developed four years later when the Class 1's started buying factory low-nose units.  Rather, it looks like EMD just shaved the bottom few feet off the stock GP9 short hood, left the number boards where they were, added a couple of window panes of different proportions, hung the headlight above it all, and called it good.  The result was every bit as ungainly as WM's later chopnosing efforts:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/emd-gp9-gp30-locomotive-slides-phelps-134446723
http://original.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/598/41886/october-1985-page-12

Reportedly, the Phelps Dodge units were set up to run long hood forward, and the low nose was to afford the crew a better view when they looked back over their ore trains.