Just received my new book, by Four Ways West, titled "Western Pacific Color Pictorial, Vol. 1. Have not had a chance to read it yet but the color photos of WP are very clear and sharp. It looks to be a good buy, which was $35 plus shipping.
That's great John, now you can help us all out. What does your book say is the difference between a GP-7 and a GP-9 ? How do we know by looking? Not counting all the dash numbers.
After reading the book, I hate to inform you that it does not say how to tell the difference between the GP7 and GP9.
I was mistaken. The book says that original scheme GP9's, orange and silver, came with the Western Pacific lettering on two lines on the long hood end, instead of all of it being on one line as on the GP7's. This was due to the placement of louvers preventing the single line lettering. Hope that helps.
WP geeps had a relatively unchanged career. The GP7's had three louvers on the battery box under the cab and the GP9's had only one. That is the easiest way to tell them apart. The WP GP7's were numbered 701 to 713. The GP9's were 725 to 732. The 732 was in a wreck and rebuilt for switching in Stockton yard. It was the only geep that had controls for long hood foreward only, the rest were set up with two control stands. Greg
Here is a picture of WP's last GP7. It's silver and orange is getting tired but the engine was still a good runner. It would last till the UP took over and be retired in 1983 and donated to the Pacific Locomotive Association, Niles Canyon Railway near Pleasanton, CA. Notice the one line Western Pacific and the battery box. The last square is a patch that didn't get a coat of paint. Greg
And talking of GP7's, does anyone know offhand the numbers produced by Atlas in N? I've had a look around and have failed to find an all-time listing of releases. I have a couple of un-numbered units I just couldn't pass up. TIA. Gary.
