EMD GP18
model of American 1800 hp diesel locomotive
The EMD GP18 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors, Electro-Motive Division between December 1959 and November 1963. Power was provided by a 16-567D1 16-cylinder engine which generated 1,800 horsepower (1.34 MW). The GP18 replaced the GP9 in EMD's catalog.
350 examples of this locomotive model were built for American railroads, 40 units were built for Mexican railroads, 12 were built for export to a Brazilian railroad, 2 were exported to Peru, and 1 was exported to Saudi Arabia.
Design and Production
The GP18 in many ways resembled its predecessors, the GP7 and GP9. It was designed nearly identically to the two previous models, but differed in having a metal grid over its radiator shutters, while the GP7 and GP9 instead incorporated a design described as looking like "chicken wire". Additionally, the GP18 had 50 more horsepower than the GP9, for a total of 1,800 horsepower. The new "18" model number was chosen by EMD to reflect the unit's upgraded horsepower rating.
GP18s could be customized by their buyers: railroads ordered GP18s with either high or low short hoods, with or without dynamic brakes, and in the case of Grand Trunk Western, with the optional addition of steam generators.
Original buyers
References
Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973).
The public source identifies “EMD GP18” as model of American 1800 hp diesel locomotive. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around GP18, model and American.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5323428. The Library of Congress control number is sh95001941. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959, 1963 and 1973.
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This entry incorporates text from “EMD GP18” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.