GP60 Demonstrator EMD 7

When EMD introduced their four axle 60 series to the world, they did it with six demonstrator locomotives painted in the attractive blue and white scheme worn by the SD60 demonstrators and later the Oakway SD60 lease fleet. The three GP59 and three GP60 locomotives had another feature not seen since the GP30: an aerodynamic cab with a pointed cab face. The hood corner radius of the nose was increased from the standard 4" to 9" and the standard 4" radius was applied to the leading edges of the cab. The effect of the streamlining was a striking appearance, accentuated by the color scheme.

The demonstrators made their way across the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific systems among others. In an attempt to make the locomotives ready to serve any railroad they were equipped with many of the options specified by different railroads, including a variety of different fuel fillers, extended range dynamic braking, a cab air conditioner, auxiliary warning headlights and a UDE light.

The extended range dynamic braking hatch was larger than on previous models and protruded about a foot from the hood sides. The rounded edges and sloped faces of the streamlined cab were continued to the dynamic hatch. Although none of the railroads that purchased production GP59s or GP60s opted for the streamlined cab, all were equipped with the large dynamic hatch. Eventually the streamlined styling of the hatch was discarded for a much simpler to fabricate version with squared edges and flat faces. No production GP59s received the streamlined dynamic hatch, but ATSf 400-4019, SP 9600-9619 and SSW 9621-9634 were so equipped. All others had the later, angled hatch.

After the demonstrators made their case for EMD to the prospective railroads, the GP59s were sold to Norfolk Southern and the GP60s were on a long term lease with Southern Pacific. Eventually the GP60s were returned to the lessor, sold to another lessor, then finally sold to CSX as their 6897-6899.

I modeled one of the demonstrators by drawing the hatch and the cab/nose combo in AutoCAD, then 3D printing the model through Shapeways. I applied the parts to a factory painted Life-Like Proto2000 GP60 model. I had to shorten the fuel tank at the rear to better match the prototype, but otherwise I just painted and decaled the new parts to match the factory paint, added a few fuel tank details, a new horn, and some cab mirrors.

I sell these parts on Shapeways, along with many others, and one of the modelers who purchased these parts noticed an error in the dynamic hatch with the size of the exhaust. Wouldn't you know it, I transposed some numbers while drawing the part. I have since revised the dynamic hatch, but at this point I have not replaced it on the model. Thanks to Roderick Quebral for his keen eye and help with this hatch and the SD40-2 hatches I drew in recent months.