Costa Mesa, Calif. — Orange County Model Engineers will soon have another engine available for our members to drive and to help with the increased popularity of our free public train rides, the club announced in June.
The board recognized that more equipment would be necessary to meet the ever-growing demands of the club and the public rides that are offered for free to everyone in the surrounding areas and voted to purchase a new engine in order to meet all the club’s needs.
The board has been aggressive in investing in our existing equipment, with a refurbishment being completed on club engine no. 819, and scheduled for no. 509, 622, and 1104.
The new engine is a 1.5-scale GP9 and will be manufactured by Titan Trains of Boones Mill, Virginia. The membership at OCME recently selected the Rio Grande Tiger Stripes as the preferred livery, making it a wonderful addition to our existing liveries on display at the club.
The new GP9 is expected to be delivered sometime in the first quarter of 2024.
OCME operates and maintains nine of its own locomotives — with six of them being classified as “heavy-haulers” for our public run days. The other engines are made up of two electric engines and a work engine for track and facility maintenance. OCME is also somewhat unique in the fact that it owns its own equipment and rolling stock and allows members to use that equipment after passing conductor and engineer training programs.
The cost to operate the equipment by any club member is included in their membership fees.
If you’d like to help contribute to our NEW LOCOMOTIVE FUND, you can do so by visiting our DONOTATION PAGE. OCME is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The price is expected to top more than $20,000 for this addition to the railroad.
Fun Facts About the Full-Scale GP9
The GP9 series, a sibling to the popular GP7, first introduced in January of 1954, achieved remarkable success in the locomotive industry and even surpassed the GP7 in sales. The GP9 became one of the most prosperous diesel locomotives ever built. The GP7 series was endearingly referred to as “Geeps,” and the GP9 continued this positive reputation.
Before the release of the GP7, EMD was falling behind other locomotive manufacturers, particularly Alco and its early RS models. However, the release of the GP7 immediately pushed EMD to the forefront as the leader in road switchers and other types of locomotives. The success of the GP7 only reiterated EMD’s position as the industry leader, achieving even greater success with the introduction of the GP9.
In less than five years of production, the GP9 model sold more than 3,500 examples, B units included. This was a net increase of almost 32% in sales! The GP7 and GP9 models remain among the best-selling locomotive models of all time, except for the SD40 series. Together, these two models had over 6,000 units built before the GP9’s production ended in 1959.
