Athearn Genesis 65921 - EMD GP50 w/ DCC and Sound Norfolk Southern (NS) 7037 - HO Scale

NS FEATURES:

• Phase I Body with rounded blower housing
• Long hood forward setup with high short hood
• Southern style 5-chime horns on both ends
• Long hood mounted bell
• Dual Firecracker antennas
• Timkin bearing trucks
• Hood mounted walkway lights (non-operational)
• Large EMD style plows and ditch lights on both ends

Built in 1980 for the Southern Railway, these distinct high nose long hood forward locomotives were painted into Norfolk Southern colors after the Southern / Norfolk Western merger of 1982. They retained most of the as built features other than ditch lights added in the 1990’s.

ROAD NUMBER SPECIFIC FEATURES:

#7037

• Earlier NS scheme with dashed frame stripes

#7054

• Newer NS “horse-head” logo with solid frame stripes

#7085

• Earlier NS scheme with solid frame stripes

GP50 LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES:

• Full cab interior
• Wire grab irons
• Coupler cut levers
• See-through cab windows
• Flexible rubber trainline hose
• Flexible rubber MU hoses
• Etched see-through steps
• Walkway tread
• Lift rings
• Sander lines
• Windshield wipers
• McHenry® scale knuckle couplers - Kadee compatible
• Accurately-painted and –printed paint schemes
• Fully-assembled and ready-to-run
• DCC-ready features Quick Plug™ plug-and-play technology with 21-pin NEM connector
• Scaled from prototype resources including drawings, field measurements, photographs, and more
• Fine-scale Celcon handrails for scale appearance
• Detailed fuel tank with fuel fillers, fuel gauges, & breather pipes
• Genesis driveline with 5-pole skew wound motor, precision machined flywheels, and multi-link drivetrain
• All-wheel drive with precision gears for smooth & quiet operation
• All-wheel electrical pickup provides reliable current flow
• Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track
• LED lighting for realistic appearance-including lit number boards, ground lights, and marker lights (if applicable)
• Heavy die-cast frame for greater traction and more pulling power
• Packaging securely holds model for safe storage
• Minimum radius: 18” — Recommended radius: 22”

PRIMED FOR GRIME MODELS FEATURE

• Duplicated look and feel of “In Service” equipment
• Faded base colors matched to the prototype
• Perfect starting point for adding grime and rust

SOUND-EQUPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE

• Onboard DCC decoder with SoundTraxx Tsunami2 sound
• Dual cube speakers for optimal sound quality
• Sound units operate in both DC and DCC
• Full DCC functions available when operated in DCC mode
• Engine, horn, and bell sounds work in DC
• All functions NMRA compatible in DCC mode
• Precision slow speed control

PROTOTYPE SPECIFIC INFORMATION

The EMD GP50 is a 4-axle diesel road switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1980 and 1985. It is powered by a 16-cylinder EMD 645F3B diesel engine, which can produce between 3,500 and 3,600 hp.

A total of 278 examples of this locomotive were built. The GP50 retains the same overall length of 59 feet 2 inches as the other GP dash-2 series locomotives built in the same era. It utilized GM’s D87 traction motor enabling it to produce a starting tractive effort of 65,000 pounds, with a continuous rating of 62,400 pounds.

The most significant difference in the GP50 from earlier designs like the GP40 was upgraded components (like a turbocharger silencer and new type of blower housing) and increased horsepower. The locomotive also introduced a new “anti-wheel-slip” technology where the locomotive horsepower output was reduced if a wheel slip condition was introduced. It also included features already common on earlier models such as dynamic braking (a system for temporarily employing traction motors as generators and using the resulting electromotive force to slow the train), and an airtight hood that kept out dust, dirt and other particles from reaching internal components.

All the companies that purchased the GP50 have now been absorbed into other systems. However, a few of their successors continue to operate the units. A number GP50s have rebuilt for better fuel economy and continue in service today.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article “EMD GP50” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_GP50); it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.