Southern Pacific 5623

Southern Pacific 5623
Southern Pacific 5623 pulling a passenger train on the Niles Canyon Railway
Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) Model EMD GP9 EMD GP9R Build date 1955 Rebuild date 1977
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR B-B Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Trucks EMD Blomberg B Wheel diameter 40 in (1.016 m) Minimum curve 21° (273 ft (83.21 m) radius) Wheelbase 40 ft (12.19 m) Length 56 ft 2 in (17.12 m) Width 10 ft 3 1⁄2 in (3.14 m) Height 15 ft 1⁄2 in (4.58 m) Loco weight 259,500 lb (117,700 kg) Fuel capacity 1,100 US gal (4,200 l; 920 imp gal) Prime mover EMD 16-567C RPM range 835 max Engine type V16 Two-stroke diesel Aspiration Roots blower Displacement 9,072 cu in (148.66 L) Generator EMD D-12-B Traction motors (4) EMD D-37-B Cylinders 16 Cylinder size 8 1⁄2 in × 10 in (216 mm × 254 mm)
Performance figures Maximum speed 65 mph (105 km/h) Power output 1,750 hp (1.30 MW) Tractive effort 64,750 lbf (288.0 kN)
Career Operators Southern Pacific Transportation Company Niles Canyon Railway Numbers 5623 (1955-1966), 3005 (1966-1977), 3189 (1977-2005), NCRy (SP) 5623 (2005-present) Locale Oregon, then San Francisco, California Retired 1991 Restored 1993 Disposition Operational

Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) locomotive number 5623 is a passenger service-equipped "torpedo boat" version of an EMD GP9R diesel locomotive, built in 1955. SP 5623 featured a steam generator, dual control stands, and was delivered in the "black widow" paint scheme.

SP 5623's first assignments were passenger trains in Oregon, and then spent the rest of its passenger service career in the San Francisco Bay Area, pulling such trains as the Senator, Sacramento Daylight, Del Monte, and the San Francisco Peninsula commuter trains.

SP 5623 was renumbered 3005 and painted into the grey and scarlet "bloody nose" paint scheme in 1966. After Amtrak assumed intercity passenger train service in 1971, SP 5623 (then numbered 3005) and all other SP passenger locomotives were assigned only to the SF Peninsula commuter trains. It was renumbered 3189 in 1977 after being rebuilt as a part of the SP's GRIP program. In 1985, it was displaced by the arrival of Caltrain equipment. It was then placed into local freight service for the rest of its regular service years.

SP5623 operating on the Niles Canyon Railway

SP 5623 was retired in 1991 and was purchased from a scrap dealer in 1992 by Errol Ohman and Howard Wise. The pair restored the locomotive and repainted it into its original "black widow" paint scheme and its original number (5623) in 1993. SP 5623 spent most of the 1990s working for the Oakland Terminal Railway.

It travelled to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California for the "Mini-Railfair" in 1995 and appeared in a Shell Gasoline commercial in 1997. It then travelled with steam locomotive Southern Pacific 2467 to "Railfair '99" in Sacramento, and in January 2005, it moved to the Niles Canyon Railway in Sunol, California, where it is used in occasional excursion service.

See also

• Southern Pacific 5472

Further reading

• Solomon, Brian (2000). American Diesel Locomotives. Voyageur Press. ISBN 9781610606059. Search this book on
• Strapac, Joseph A. (1974). Southern Pacific Motive Power Annual 1973. Chatham Publishing. Search this book on

External links

• "Home". Niles Canyon Railway.
• "Southern Pacific GP9 5623". Trainweb. April 30, 2014.

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