TrainDad

As you watch the train thunder past the crossing gates, you turn to your son and yell, “hey, that was a new Evolution locomotive behind those SD70s!” He stares at you, eyes full of admiration and worship.

Okay, maybe not, but learning how to identify the major locomotives will make your railroad-watching more enjoyable by helping you know what you are looking at. It’s actually quite a challenge; the various types look remarkably similar. I’ll give you some shortcuts that will enable you to identify the most common engines, at least by family. To keep it short, I’m limiting the discussion to major freight-carrying engines.

There are two primary manufacturers of locomotives today. The largest is EMD — Electro-Motive Diesel, formerly a division of General Motors. Right behind them is General Electric. Your first step is to figure out whether your engine is a GE or an EMD.

Tip 1: Look for a triangle on the nose. Every GE locomotive (well, every one made in the last 20 years) has a diagonally slanted panel not found on any EMD. As a double-check, look for a large “bread box” smokestack sticking up on top, nearer the back. Only GE uses them. I’ve outlined both areas in the picture to the right. Don’t be confused by the picture. That’s a Norfolk Southern engine, but it doesn’t mean NS only uses GE engines — every railroad line has a wide assortment of different engines. Anyway, now that you know whether it’s a GE or an EMD…

Tip 2: If it’s a GE engine, call it a “Dash.” GE has made Dash-7s, Dash-8s, and Dash-9s. They all look remarkably similar. The Dash-7 is the one to hate, because it doesn’t follow the rule — it doesn’t have the triangle front. But it does have one wonderful detail:

Tip 3: If it has an arched cab roof, it’s a Dash-7. These are rare, since the last ones were made 20+ years ago. Enjoy it if you see one. Actually, these look very much like an older style of GE engines, known as “U-boats.” They really don’t look much like the other Dash styles at all.

Tip 4: If there’s one big intake under the radiator flare, it’s a Dash-8. All of these locomotives have a huge, flared radiator “hat brim” that sticks out on top at the roof, at the back, above the rear wheels. The Dash-9s and their ultra-powerful cousins (the AC4400CW and AC6000CW) all have the intake grill divided into two or more panels. They will be about the same size and shape; they just will have dividers.

Unfortunately, the Dash-9’s, their cousins, and GE’s latest and greatest Evolution series all look very much alike, and I don’t have easy, one-step identifiers to help you tell them apart. (If you have a tip, add it to the comments below.)

That’s a good start for GE engines, but what about EMD?

Tip 5: If it’s an EMD with 8 wheels, call it a “Jeep.” A little background: EMD locomotives are named with two letters and two numbers. Their 8-wheeled engines all use the format GPnn (”General Purpose”). For example, the GP38 is a very common engine. Their 12-wheeled engines often use the format SDnn (”Special Duty”). To tell the most common Geeps apart, look at the fans on top, clumped together at the back:

• The GP35 has two “towers” with a smaller, rounded fan between;
• The GP38 just has two towers;
• The GP40 has three towers.

By “tower” I’m referring to a round raised “wok” sitting on the roof, right at the back. You can see one in the next picture.
Tip 6: If it’s an SD with a back deck you could hold a party on, call it an SD40. For bonus points, call it an SD40-2. It’s worth noting that the front deck is also over-sized. If you look at the picture, you’ll see that the deck had to be extended to cover an entire wheel’s extra length. By the way, here’s a freebie: notice that it doesn’t have a flared radiator sticking out of the roof like the GE engines. That’s not true about most SDs. About that radiator…

Tip 7: If the radiator flare on an SD has three panels, it’s an SD90 — called an SD90MAC. The three squares on the side are air intakes, and only the SD90MAC has three of them. So what happened to the SD series between the 40 and the 90? Well, that’s a little more difficult. There are two families of note: the SD60 and the SD70. If you can ignore all the fans and smokestacks and stuff on top of the roof…

Tip 8: If the body/roof line is straight, it’s an SD60; if it dips in the middle, it’s an SD70 (but not if the radiator has three panels! Why does it have to be so confusing?). There are numerous variants of SD60s and SD70s, but they should all conform to this basic ID test.

Tip 9: Cheat. Some railroads — Norfolk Southern, for one — write the model number on the cab wall, usually under the engine number. Wow, that should be tip number 1!

Tip 10: Get a field guide. There’s one that’s very small (it’s meant to fit in a pocket) and easy enough to use that you can make identifications on the fly. It’s the Field Guide to Trains of North America from the Peterson Field Guide series, and I recommend it highly. It covers 150 different types of locomotives used on 840 different railroads as well as all rolling stock.

Have any other easy, foolproof spotting ID methods? Add them to the comments! This article has focused on North American locomotives; if anyone has tips for other locales, add them as well.