Eastern Railroad Discussion > EMD GP 53's ???

Hello,

Reading through BNSF's General Code of Operating Rules, in the System Special Instructions there's some charts that identify all the locomotive types (not just BNSF engines) and gives some stats on each one.

I noticed an entry for GP53 and also GP53L. I've never heard of such engines. They are rated at 3000hp.

DO any of these exist? If so, who owns them, or owned them, and how many?

Thanks!

Tom

Just BN's (and apparently now BNSF's) term for the 3100-series GP50s

BN's GP50's were de-rated to 3000 hp sometime in the mid 90's, at which time I believe they were termed GP53's. If I remember correctly, GP53L refers to the final 5 units of BN's order which had the larger 5 man cab, but I could be wrong. BN had several of these types of designations (SD42 was another I think) but they always had the model type (GP-50, SD40-2, etc.) correctly labeled on the side, so I never paid much attention to their strange designations.

-Ryan