The EMD GP38AC is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between February 1970 and December 1971. It was basically a GP38 with an AR10 alternator instead of the GP38's normal generator.

261 examples of this model were built; railroads that purchased this model include CP, DT&I, GTW, GM&O, IC, LV, L&N, N&W, SLSF, SOU and Pacific Power and Light.

Many were upgraded to full GP38-2 status with the Dash 2 modular electrical cabinet.

BNSF 2116 EMD GP38AC
New England Central Railroad EMD GP 38 AC Unit #3857 at White River Junction, VT

Original buyers

RailroadQuantityRoad numbersNotes
CP Rail213000-3020
Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad14210-217215 renumbered 209, 216 renumbered 208, 217 renumbered 207; to Grand Trunk Western Railroad 6207-6214
215-220To Grand Trunk Western Railroad 6215-6220
Grand Trunk Western Railroad125800-5811
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad13721-733To Illinois Central 9540-9552
Illinois Central Railroad209500-9519
Lehigh Valley Railroad4310-313To Conrail 7656-7659, and then to Norfolk Southern 2881-2884, Rebuilt into remote control yard slugs in 2007
Louisville and Nashville Railroad304020-4049To Seaboard System Railroad 6241-6270 then to CSX
Norfolk and Western Railway604100-4159To Norfolk Southern.
Pacific Power & Light Company111To Arizona Public Service - Pacificorp Cholla Power Plant
Southern Railway562823–2878To Norfolk Southern.
St. Louis – San Francisco Railway30633-662651 wrecked, remaining to Burlington Northern Railroad 2110-2138 and later to BNSF. Some of them were rebuilt as GP38-3R or GP39-3
Totals261

Preservation

* BNSF Railway EMD GP38AC No. 2127 at the Galveston Railroad Museum
  • Marre, Louis A. & Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1989). The Contemporary Diesel Spotter's Guide. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Books. ISBN0-89024-088-4. LCCN. OCLC.
  • Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN978-0-89024-026-7.
  • Sarberenyi, Robert.