By Railroad Model Craftsman Staff
WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — At the Amherst Railroad Show held this weekend in West Springfield, Mass., ScaleTrains unveiled samples of their much anticipated HO scale four-axle locomotive – an EMD GP30 in multiple versions. During a time of intense competition between North American locomotive builders, the EMD GP30 stood apart from its rivals and its own lineage with unique styling created by GM’s automotive designers. All said, 948 GP30s were produced by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors between July 1961 and November 1963 for railroads in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
The CSX Transportation GP30 “RDMT” Slug from ScaleTrains.
As part of their premium Rivet Counter series, the ScaleTrains HO scale GP30 promises smooth operation combined with a maximal level of era-specific and road-number-specific details for each model. Variants are to include both Phase I and Phase II production units, high and low nosed versions, and for the first time ever, cabless GP30Bs in both passenger and freight versions for Union Pacific as well as CSX’s “RDMT” slugs that were converted from GP30 cores.
All units are to feature full LED lighting including walkway and ground lights, detailed cab interiors, underbody frame rails with piping, multiple dynamic brake and inertial compartment configurations, era-specific walkway tread plate patterns, precision motor with flywheels, all-wheel-drive and electrical pickup, and much more. Each GP30 will come either DC/DCC-ready or factory-equipped with ESU Loksound 5 and dual sugar-cube style speakers for DC+DCC+Sound operation.
Road names for this first release include:
- ● Chicago & North Western/OY scheme
- ● Chicago & North Western/OY repaint
- ● CSX/RDMT Slug/Stealth scheme
- ● Rio Grande/Large Billboard lettering
- ● Rio Grande/Flying lettering
- ● Norfolk & Western/Pevler Blue (High Nosed)
- ● Pennsylvania/Brunswick Green
- ● Union Pacific/As-Delivered “A Unit”
- ● Union Pacific/As-Delivered “B Units” in both freight and passenger versions
- ● Union Pacific 844/Nevada State Railroad Museum edition with ditch lights
For pricing and further information, please visit scaletrains.com.
The Pennsylvania Railroad GP30 from ScaleTrains.
