Produced from 1972 to 1986, the GP38-2 helped inaugurate Electro-Motive's "Dash-2" series of locomotives and became one of EMD's all-time best sellers. With over 2200 engines sold throughout North America, rare was the railroad that did not roster these reliable, second-generation EMD workhorses.

Building on the success of the GP38 introduced in 1966, the Dash-2 model looked almost identical on the outside but incorporated a host of internal upgrades that lowered exhaust emissions and improved reliability, ease of maintenance, and tractive effort. Most significant was the replacement of the maze of hard-wired circuits, switches, interlocks, and relays - which had characterized first-generation diesels and had been the source of many of their service issues - with modular, solid-state electronics. Other improvements toughened the pistons, rings, and bearings of the 2000-horsepower, non-turbocharged model 645 prime mover.

The result was an engine so hard working and dependable that it became as common on American railroads as the F-unit was in the 1950s and '60s. Trains magazine recognized this in 1982 by designating B&O GP38 (a pre-Dash-2 model) as the All American Diesel; the engine resides today in the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, repainted in its 1982 Chessie System colors. Many GP38-2s have soldiered on for more than three decades and remain in service today on short lines and regional railroads.

While our Premier model is not the only O gauge version of this second-generation stalwart, it offers the best combination of detail, realism, and performance of any 1/48 scale GP38-2. Added-on detail parts include windshield wipers, metal see-thru body grilles, lift rings, metal grab irons and handrails, and see-thru rooftop fan housings, as well as brake cylinders, air pipes, and swing hangers on our super-detailed Blomberg trucks. And in command mode with the DCS system, you can create a lashup combining one or more GP38-2s with other Proto-Sound 3.0 first- or second-generation power - and run them all from a single throttle just like the prototype.

Features

•Intricately Detailed ABS Body
•Die-Cast Truck Sides, Pilots and Fuel Tank
•Fixed Die-Cast Pilots
•Metal Chassis
•Metal Handrails and Horn
•Moveable Roof Fans
•Metal Body Side Grilles
•Detachable Snow Plow
•(2) Engineer Cab Figures
•Authentic Paint Scheme
•Metal Wheels, Axles and Gears
•Kadee Compatible Coupler Mounting Pads
•Prototypical Rule 17 Lighting
•Directionally Controlled Constant Voltage LED Headlights
•Lighted Cab Interior
•Illuminated Number Boards
•Lighted Marker Lights
•(2) Precision Flywheel-Equipped Motors
•Operating Smoke Unit
•Onboard DCC Receiver
•Locomotive Speed Control In Scale MPH Increments
•Proto-Scale 3-2 3-Rail/2-Rail Conversion Capable
•1:48 Scale Proportions
•Proto-Sound 3.0 With The Digital Command System Featuring: Freight Yard Proto-Effects
• Unit Measures:15 1/2" x 2 3/4" x 4"
• Operates On O-31