# EMD GP9

The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1959. The GP9 succeeded the GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, incorporating a new sixteen-cylinder engine which generated 1,750 horsepower (1.30 MW). This locomotive type was offered both with and without control cabs; locomotives built without control cabs were called GP9B locomotives.
EMD constructed 3,626 GP9s, including 165 GP9Bs. An additional 646 GP9s were built by General Motors Diesel, EMD's Canadian subsidiary, for a total of 4,257 GP9s produced when Canadian production ended in 1963. The GP9 was succeeded by the similar but slightly more powerful GP18.

## Design and production

EMD designed the GP9 as an improved version of the GP7, with an increase in power from 1,500 hp to 1,750 hp, and a change in prime mover to the latest version of the 567 engine, the 567C. Externally, the GP9 strongly resembled its predecessor. Most were built with high short hoods, but the Southern Pacific ordered a number with low short hoods for improved crew visibility.
EMD built GP9s at its LaGrange, Illinois facility until 1959, when American production was ended in favor of the GP18. GMD production in Canada continued until August 1963, when the final GP9 was produced.

## Original buyers

| Owner | Quantity | Model | Numbers |
| Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway | 52 | GP9 | 700-751 |
| Great Northern Railway | 79 | GP9 | 656-734 |
| Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad | 54 | GP9 | 5901-5954 |
| Southern Pacific Company | 255 | GP9 | 5600-5719, 5730-5844, 5872-5895 |
| St. Louis Southwestern Railway | 12 | GP9 | 820-831 |
| Texas and New Orleans Railroad | 73 | GP9 | 240-249, 280-283, 400-458 |
| Union Pacific Railroad | 220 | GP9 | 130-204, 205-248, 250-349 |
| Union Pacific Railroad | 125 | GP9B | 130B-204B, 300B-349B |

## Rebuilds

There were 40 GP9M units built that are included in the 3,441 units built for United States railroads. A GP9M was built with parts from another older EMD locomotive, either an F unit or a damaged GP7. The use of parts from these older locomotives caused the GP9Ms to have a lower power rating than a GP9. This would be either 1,350 horsepower (1.01 MW) if the donor locomotive was an FT/F2 or 1,500 horsepower (1.12 MW) from F3/F7/GP7 locomotives.
Many rebuilt GP9s remain in service today with shortline railroads and industrial operators. Some remain in rebuilt form on some major Class I railroads, as switcher locomotives although most Class 1 railroads stopped using these locomotives by the 1980s. Canadian National still had 29 GP9RM locomotives in operation, as of 2022. Canadian Pacific had many GP9u locomotives in operation; however, they were all retired in 2015.

### EMD GP15C

Several GP9s were rebuilt with a 1,500 horsepower (1.12 MW) CAT 3512 and re-classified as GP15C.

### EMD GP10

The Illinois Central Railroad rebuilt some of its GP9s with their front (short) hood reduced in height for improved crew visibility. The IC designated these rebuilt locomotives GP10.

### EMD GP20C-ECO

EMD has rebuilt and continues to rebuild GP9s into what it calls the GP20C-ECO, which is repowered with an EMD 8-710-G3A engine in place of the original 567 prime mover.

### EMD GP9E and GP9R

Between April 1970 and March 1979, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway (also known as the "Cotton Belt Route") and the Southern Pacific Transportation Company had rebuilt the majority of their EMD GP9 locomotives into EMD GP9E and GP9R locomotives.

## Preservation

At least 23 GP9 locomotives have been preserved at various railroad museums, as "park engines", and as excursion engines according to The Diesel Shop:
* B&O 6607, originally numbered 3414, is at the B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, in operating condition.
* Southern Pacific 3194, a GP9R rebuild built as Texas and New Orleans 281, is at the Golden Gate RR Museum, California. It is in operating condition.
* Northern Pacific 245 preserved at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, currently painted as North Shore Scenic Railroad 245.
* Norfolk & Western 514 was donated to the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society in August 2024. This locomotive is one of two surviving unrebuilt former N&W GP9s.

## Gallery

* CN GP9 leads a train up Yellowhead Pass.
* An MBTA GP9 locomotive making a non-revenue move into South Station in Boston, Massachusetts. This locomotive was retired by the MBTA in 2004 and is now on static display at the Illinois Railway Museum as of September 2014.
* A modified EMD GP9 of the Seminole Gulf Railway, Fort Myers, Florida.
* This GTW rebuilt GP9 4619 is heading south on the Kalamazoo spur in Kalamazoo, MI.
* Former BNSF 1685 high hood GP9 sitting in the Prairie Dog Central Yard. This was the last GP9 on the BNSF roster.
* Former Northern Pacific 245, operational on the North Shore Scenic Railroad in Duluth, Minnesota.