GP9 struggles to move a train in Alyth Yard

[VIA919]

1642 is a GP9u

[iceman977th]

GP9: Moves, but barely.

GE: Cries, blows its turbocharger up, then asks for another string of locomotives to help move it...

I love my old school GE sound/power, but nothing beats an EMD at notch 8.

[enr3870]

Ok, so it's working hard, but it is lifting the cars.

[TrainTrackTrav]

Pull baby PULL!!!!!

[claypiesexygod]

not a gp9 for a start. and im english lmao

[oubliettehoggle]

@claypiesexygod It is a GP9

[pdlsteeler1]

@oubliettehoggle I just wanted to add that it is a GP-9R for rebuild. The rebuild causes it to be an open front.

[adfgfds]

@claypiesexygod

It is a GP9. Low nose GP9.

[CSX8663]

@claypiesexygod it is GP9 cuz it is low hooded which is typical for GP7 but Canadian Pacific only bought GP9's

[celica825]

that sounds like how a train would start up on trainz 2006.

[p51death1]

I pulled 12k tons (120 loads, 7,500 plus feet) out with a single GP38-2 the other night; no problem! We still have many GP15s in yard service (ran one last night) with non-turbod 567's and they do a great job also. Just watch those amps!

[colliecandle]

I see graffitti 'artists' [I call vandals] are at work everywhere!

[Railhead1956]

Great video and sound

[ShastaPacificRoad]

Music to my ears!!!! Milwaukee used to run triple headers of 9's thru my home town with a heavy mixed freight or grain train on behind. LOVE the sound of those early EMD's winding up!

[Superedit]

Heave! Heave!

[thecarolinamudcat]

You can't see how long the train is. There's only so much tonnage that 1750HP can handle.

[papabugs71]

These engines can run in "notch" 8 all day long. Just make sure the radiators are nice & clean. The RPM's are NOT hard on them at all. . High amperage is what kills DC loco's. These engines can take 4 min. of continuous 1500 amps. Thats it. If you stay in it any longer, you're going to be burning up traction motors, not to mention the valley will be on fire. I run these motors every day at work (short line) & im proud to say I run geep 9's.

[KartKing4ever]

great way to ruin a classic

[WWBZT1]

the little train that could.

[papabugs71]

This is called main line railroading. Making do with what you have.

These were & still are good motors. They will pull untill they burn to the ground.

[MrLuebeck]

add another engine for crying out loud

[apeppink]

Gotta be dragging barkes somewhere, can't believe she's pulling like that.

[Zebrails]

Kamloops had a GP-9...

Gone & replaced by SD40-2's

[jdgator95]

It sounds like on of those high speed quad chairlifts =)

[apeppink]

Man, she's pulling her little heart out.

[UPrailroad]

Love the sound of them GP9s

[synchronous0987]

Dosent sound like its struggling to me.

[apeppink]

Does to me. Better watch the jacket water temp. and generator current on that thing the way it's overloaded, Run 8 or not...

[BR01097]

That switcher is clearly overwhelmed (the engineer should know that). Those units can be coupled in tandem for loads that heavy.

[s1914]

To a fan of locos in the UK - this loco sounds miserable I'm afraid. Have a listen to the turbos on a class 56, a fabulous Deltic or even a little 08 shunter !

[CPRailConductor]

This unit is not equiped with a turbo.

[s1914]

I didn't say it was?

[choirboyfromhell]

Nothing ever sounded better than your Class 50's, pulling out of Basingstoke, except perhaps our SD-45's doing the same storming up Horseshoe. I'll give the edge to 2-stroke V-20's over quad turbo'd EE's.

[tutankahmun]

I hope you don't mind but I've responded with a video of one of our English locomotives. The loco in your video sounds similar to the Canadian built Class 66s which operate here in Britain. We however still have a few 1960s built Class 37s operating (the type seen in the video response) which are popular with enthusiasts due to their throaty growl.

[JayT98]

That throttle is working at what? 75%?

[trainiax]

That's run-8, or full throttle. Full throttle for the 567 in the GP9 is 850 rpm, vs 900 or 950 rpm for a 645 engine.

[L324RT12]

One of the best sounds in the world. Roots blowers baby!

[apeppink]

None of those oldies ran turbo's? Probably resulted in lousy efficiency.

[captkirk73]

Twin roots blowers... Probably 567C model V-16 1750hp

[WWBZT1]

They were also a 2 cycle diesel.

[tempronproducts]

I could listen to these beauties rev up and down all day, an complex sweet symphony that never fails to send a chill up and down my spine: taking forever to accelerate when hauling more than 20 cars, especially when these units were geared as passenger train haulers. But gosh it sure is boring to watch switching at the railroad yard of today..... high horsepower older EMDS and GE units have now largely taken the place of GP-7's, 9's...and all the little SW's as yard units.

[rsynth75]

SOU/NS used to keep SW1500/MP15's assigned to Pomona Yard in my home town in Greensboro, NC. They closed the engine facility around 1997, and since then i've seen everything from GP38's to Wide Cabs as yard switchers....it's not the same!

[ups1976]

Love that sound!!!

[backmask2007]

hmm theres a hand break set somewhere i bet u.

[Illifornia2000]

Would that be the 567 sound? Whoever answers or reply to me, thank you and good day, peace.

[apeppink]

Yup. A dinosaur.

[TrainmasterCurt]

This is good railroadin! The little GP9 that could!

[Derailedtrain666]

PULL!!!!!!

[golfingrobert]

i think i cam i think i can i think i can i think i can

[Bigjayderry]

Its a beltpack pusher. There's two units on the other end.

[GP9railfan]

Wow. That's alot of wheelslip!

[croynot]

that GP is not by itself. There are two other units at the other end as well. What you are seeing is the hump. It is making a reverse movement and that single GP that you are seeing is what they call the pusher. There is no air at all in that train.

[quadking100]

How do you know???

[TrainboySD40]

Well, he's close, but wrong. The hump is at the other end of the yard, and it's very likely that this geep is alone.

[quadking100]

Ya thats what i thought, seems to be working really hard and struggling way to much. it wouldent as much if there was one at the end too.

[CPRailConductor]

What you see here is the pusher for the hump. There is 2 more units on the lead, the train you see in this video, has probably pulled the cut from Peter or Victory yard(all still in Aylth). When the humpers make it to the hump, the pusher will un-couple. After this, the lead units are controlled by computers from the hump tower and the Hoghead sits there and twiddles his thumbs. And yes the GP9 is belt pack controoled.

[CPRailConductor]

What you see here is the pusher for the hump. Also assist with breaking up to the hill, and usually cut in 16 or so on air. This consist is sitting on Hump Lead one, making its way back to the hill. CP now has 6600 series SD40-2 that due this work, after converting them to Belt Pack. Since this video was taken, all Hump operations in Aylth are now Beltpack.

[iggyjill]

your probley right CP has been using at first was the 2 GP9 and a slug now its 2 sd40-2 there new hump set and one or two GP9 pushing on the other end they help get the train to the hump then its let go.

[aaron13133]

from my exp, it sounds like hte locomotive brakes arent all the way released. he probable had the train brake on a little bit too.

[buntik1687]

Looks like that guys wants more over time. They could have added another engine.

[getacan]

Wheels are slipping. He should use his sand.

[seth4404]

The operator is probably 40 cars back on his beltpack wondering why he isn't accelerating very fast.

[tpvalley]

power up and wait!

Compare the tractive effort of a GP9 to a european loco. Why did ischmid say a GP9 is simply an f7a?

Did he mean theyre the same but for the body?

[TrainboySD40]

Basically, yes. the correct comparison is an F9A, though. ;)

[apeppink]

Why so little power? Seems like it'd be more ultimately more efficient and cost effective to run 2 or even 3 units for switching if he's having that much difficulty. That thing is old if it's running a 567.

[CPRailConductor]

Pusher on the hump, there are 2 Sd40's on the other end(Hump Power).

[THandBfan]

GP9u's 1,750 horsepower. Love Canadian Pacific. Great pull.

[trevorandy]

no i don't work at either railway in kamloops. my dad works at cp rail which is the yard where i saw the gp-9 struggle to pull a load of cars called the "Ashcroft way-freight"

are you from kamloops?

[trevorandy]

theres one of those gp locomotives in the rail yard in kamloops, ive seen it move a good chunk of cars in the yard, it definatly takes it awhile to get going.

[spamoli420]

do you work at the cn yard in kamloops?

[canadianfreerider]

Rough times! its definitley a struggle but with patience and a good engineer it can be done, I was on a train with 30 gypsum cars being pulled by two sw900's over a bridge with a pretty good hump and we got down to 1.3 MPH and at one point started to get pulled backwards but we eventually made it over....major struggle though.

[ajaaniajaa]

how many cars was the gp9u pulling?

[crapper1]

sounds rough but im sure that once its moving its easier on the loco i got to se in a gp-30 and a sd70 lots of new things makes the gp-30 look like fred flintstones car compared to a prius

[jschmid]

an 11 inch knuckle is a type E, and 19 inch if a D, this gp9 is not struggling, its simply a f7a, only emd can do this that CP loco is 37 years old, i dont think a sd40 could out pull it

[jschmid]

an gp9 can move anything

[skeezix91]

Question is, how much of the rails did he burn up?

[CountVonBoco]

I bet those other locos in the back groud are laughing at that poor little engine, but, as soon as it gets the thing moving, those other engines are like, HOLY S&%T!

[tempronproducts]

Folks, this is definititve proof that GP-9s make awful yard switchers! the principle problem is that most were geared for passenger speeds, just like this one was configured for!

[mafarnz]

Somebody please give that poor train some sand. Though I like the sound.

[edtrain5]

It's hard to beat the sound of an old 567 wound up tight...

[enr3870]

Notice the flashing beacon, must be in Beltpack mode. The Beltpack computer will wind it right up to run 8 while accelerating until it hits the speed selected.

[shadynebey]

That's a lot of train for an old loco. Sounds like he took it all the way up to Run 8...

[GEES44DC]

Those GP9u's can pull, don't underestimate!

[thetrainman407]

gp9s are tough little locos

[EXCALIBERWEST]

Built like tanks- not like that electronic garbage they have nowadays. Sure the new locos have power but everything else is all Star Trek TNG garbage if you get me.

[thetrainman407]

thanks for saying so. Your right about they are built like tanks. I have one on my ho scale layout, and it can pull more than one of my sd40/2s, funny huh.

[SkyhawkACE123]

no kidding i wish they where used more often!