Burlington Northern Santa Fe 2500 EMD GP35, 25 January 2008.

(terry cantrell, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

 

EMD GP35 DIESEL-ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

The EMD GP35 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between July 1963 and December 1965 and by General Motors Diesel Div. (GMD) between May 1964 and January 1966. 1251 examples were built for American railroads, 26 were built for Canadian railroads and 57 were built for Mexican railroads. Power was provided by a turbocharged EMD 567D3A 16-cylinder engine which generated 2,500 horsepower (1,860 kW).

Many railroads traded in Alco FA units and EMD F-units for GP35s, reusing the trucks and traction motors. Examples with Alco trucks include those owned by Gulf, Mobile and Ohio, Southern Railway, and Ann Arbor Railroad.

 

Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico EMD GP35 8221 at Valle de Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico, February 27, 1974. Photographer: Keith Ardinger.

NdeM owned 55 EMD GP35's, delivered in 1964 and 1965 and numbered 8200-8254. 

NdeM 8215-8254 were built with high short hoods and had steam generators for passenger service.

(Craig Garver, Public domain, https://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalrailartist/51721040666/)

 

Original buyers

Railroad Quantity Road Numbers Notes
Alaska Railroad 3 2501–2503
Ann Arbor Railroad 10 385–394 Type B Trucks
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 161 1300–1460 Renumbered 3300-3460
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad 6 909–914 To Seaboard Coast Line 1400-1405
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 41 3500–3519, 3540–3559, 3581
Canadian National Railway 2 4000–4001 Renumbered 9300, 9301
Canadian Pacific Railway 24 8202–8213, 5014–5025 8202–8213 renumbered to 5002–5013, 5024–5025 last GP35s built
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway 42 3520–3539, 3560–3575
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway 42 3582 Rebuilt from wrecked GP7
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway 42 3045, 3047 Rebuilt from wrecked GP30s; Renumbered 3583,3584
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway 42 3537 (2nd), 3563 (2nd), 3574 (2nd) Rebuilt from wrecked GP35s
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad 31 242–259 To Missouri Pacific Railroad 650–667
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad 31 260–272 To Missouri Pacific Railroad 668–680, Louisville and Nashville Railroad 1116–1128
Chicago and North Western Railway 43 824–866 824 and 825 were replacements for wrecked GP9s
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 22 978–999 To Burlington Northern 2524-2545
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad 12 360–371 Renumbered 1500–1511
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad 34 300–333
De Queen and Eastern Railroad 1 D-6
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad 22 3029–3050
Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad 8 350–357
Erie Lackawanna Railroad 36 2551–2586 To Conrail 3657-3692
Ferrocarril Sonora–Baja California 2 2307–2308
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México 55 8200–8254 8215–8229 High Short Hood with steam generator
Great Northern Railway 24 3017–3040 To Burlington Northern 2500-2523[5]
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad 48 601–648 Type B trucks
Louisville and Nashville Railroad 17 1100–1115, 1101 (2nd) 1101 (2nd) wreck rebuild
Missouri Pacific Railroad 50 615–639
Missouri Pacific Railroad 50 600–614, 640–649 From Texas and Pacific Railway
New York Central Railroad 31 6125–6155 Renumbered 2369–2399; numbers retained under Penn Central and Conrail. NYC 6155 was ex-EMD 1964 the New York World's Fair unit, exx EMD 5661
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad 1 910 Rebuild of wrecked GP9. To N&W 2910
Norfolk and Western Railway 69 200–239, 1309–1328
Norfolk and Western Railway 69 1300–1301 Low nose, ordered by Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway
Norfolk and Western Railway 69 1302–1308 Low nose, ordered by Wabash Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad 119 2252–2370 2309–2310 renumbered 2250–2251, and 2369–2370 renumbered 2309–2310; numbers retained under Penn Central and Conrail; 5 units to Housatonic Railroad 3600-3604
Reading Company 37 6501–6506, 3626–3656 6501–6506 renumbered 3620–3625; entire group to Conrail as 3620-3656
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad 8 111–118 Renumbered 131–138
Seaboard Air Line Railroad 10 535–544 To Seaboard Coast Line 1406-1415
Soo Line Railroad 10 722–731 722 only Type B Trucks
Southern Pacific Company 160 7408–7484, 7700–7782 Renumbered 6520–6679
Southern Railway 78 2645–2704, 2526 2526 Rebuilt from wrecked GP30, 2645–2702 Type B Trucks
Southern Railway 78 210–214 From Central of Georgia Railway, renumbered to 240–244, to NS
Southern Railway 78 2641 From CNO&TP, rebuilt from wrecked GP30
Southern Railway 78 2705–2715 From Savannah and Atlanta Railway Company Type B Trucks
St. Louis – San Francisco Railway 33 700–732 725–731 Type B Trucks
St. Louis Southwestern Railway 22 760–781 Renumbered 6500–6519; 780–781 diverted from Southern Pacific Company, renumbered 6680–6681
Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway 3 900–902 Type B trucks
Union Pacific Railroad 24 740–763 UP 762–763 were ex EMD 5652, 5654 first GP35s built as part of the GP35–DD35–DD35–GP35 demonstrator set.
Wabash Railroad 8 540–547 To Norfolk and Western 3540-3547
Western Maryland Railway 5 501–505 Renumbered 3576–3580
Western Pacific Railroad 22 3001–3022
Totals 1,334

Texas & Pacific EMD GP35 612 at Dupo, Illinois, July 25, 1966. Photographer: unknown.

(Craig Garver, Public domain. https://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalrailartist/50319803586/)

 

Preservation

Some GP35s are in preservation, while others are on tourist railroads, meaning they are technically preserved.

  • Conway Scenic Railroad 216 regularly operates with GP38 252 on the notch train, painted in a Maine Central inspired scheme with Conway Scenic reporting marks. It was built as Norfolk and Western 1328 and was their last GP35 built. It was sold to Springfield Terminal in 1992 and renumbered to 216. It was retired and sold to Conway Scenic in 2011.
  • Fillmore and Western Railway 3501 and 3502 operated in year round excursion service, and sometimes appeared in films, TV shows and commercials. 3501 and 3502 were built as Pennsylvania Railroad 2262 and 2339. 3501 was sold to SMV when the Fillmore & Western Railway ceased operations in 2021 and 3502 remains on FWRY property.
  • Gulf Mobile and Ohio 631 is stored at the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum. It was restored and put on display in Mobile, AL in 1997, then moved for restoration in 2008.
  • Reading Company 3640 is under restoration at the Reading Company Technical and Historical Society in Hamburg, PA. It was the only Reading GP35 to be painted in the solid green scheme in 1974, and the society hopes to restore it to this scheme.
  • Savannah and Atlanta Railway 2715 is on display at the Georgia State Railroad Museum. It was the last GP35 built for any part of Southern Railways.
  • Watco 3533 is in service switching in Kansas City, Missouri. It was built as Wabash 547 in 1964. It was the last locomotive ever built for the Wabash. It was donated to the National Museum of Transportation in 2006, then was brought out of retirement in 2011 and shipped to Mid America Car & Locomotive to be restored to operation, then put in service in 2014.

 

Southern Pacific EMD GP35 6591 at El Centro, California, July 13, 1971. Photographer W E Harmon.

(Craig Garver, Public domain, https://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalrailartist/50308869476/)

 

Overview

Type and origin
Power type: Diesel-electric
Builder: General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD), General Motors Diesel, Canada (GMD)
Model: GP35
Build date: July 1963 – January 1966
Total produced: 1,334
Specifications
Gauge: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Wheel diameter: 40 in (1.016 m)
Wheelbase: 9 ft (2.743 m)
Length: 56 ft 2 in (17.12 m)
Width: 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m)
Height: 15 ft 3 in (4.65 m)
Locomotive weight: 260,000 lb (117,934 kg)
Prime mover: EMD 16-567D3A
Engine type: V16 diesel
Generator: EMD D-32
Traction motors EMD D67B (x 4)
Cylinders: 16
Performance figures
Maximum speed: 65 mph (105 km/h)
Power output: 2,500 hp (1.86 MW)
Tractive effort starting: 60,500 lbf (27,442 kgf) @25%
Tractive effort continuous: 50,000 lbf (22,680 kgf) @9.3 mph (15 km/h)
Career
Locale: North America