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

In June 2020, BNSF 2127, originally Frisco 650 built in February 1971, was donated to the Galveston Railroad Museum, in Galveston, Texas.

  • Marre, Louis A. & Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1989). The Contemporary Diesel Spotter's Guide. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Books. ISBN 0-89024-088-4. LCCN . OCLC .
  • Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89024-026-7.
  • Sarberenyi, Robert.