HO GP18 with DCC & Sound, CR #7499

HO GP18 with DCC & Sound, CR #7499 Overview

Lehigh Valley was folded into the U.S. government's bailout of Penn Central and became a founding member of Conrail in 1976. The collection of four GP18s went on from Lehigh Valley to serve Conrail as its 7496-7499. The units initially wore patched out Lehigh Valley dress with “CR” markings and all eventually saw repainting into Conrail blue.

The EMD GP18 began production in late 1959 and was based on the builder's extraordinarily successful GP9, although the latter model was still in production at the time. The GP18 is considered the last of the builder's “first generation” models. Similar in appearance to the GP7 and GP9, the GP18 was slightly more powerful and came with the option of a low or high short cab hood, something that had only been upon special request with EMD's first two road switcher models. It used the final version of General Motors first locomotive prime mover, the 16-cylinder model 567D1 which could produce 1,800 horsepower, the most powerful in the series up to that time. At just over 56 feet in length the GP18 was the same length as its predecessor models and was visually very similar, with the exception of new radiator grills which were also used on the GP20.

While thousands of GP7s and GP9s were produced just a few hundred GP18s were ultimately built for a little more than two dozen railroads. Today, several GP18s remain in operation on numerous short lines and industrial operations around the country.