General Motors Electro-Motive Division constructed only three GP40P-2 locomotives, all for the Southern Pacific (SP 3197-3199) for use on their commuter trains on the San Francisco Peninsula. These are essentially regular GP40-2s, but with elongated frames to accept a longer hood, the rear of which housed a steam generator. This extension, which is 7-feet long (well, perhaps just 5-feet long, since the regular pointed end is 2-feet long) has a square end, necessitating the vertical stepwell on the rear. Two of them ended up on the Union Pacific through the UP-SP merger (UP 1373 and 1375), with the third having been sold to the Indiana Harbor Belt (the rear of which was rebuilt to the pointed version in order to install a standard stepwell) – all three had their steam generators removed and larger fuel tanks installed, decades ago when they were transferred to SP’s freight pool. Forty-seven years after it was built, UP GP40P-2 (classed as just a GP40-2 on the UP) 1375 ended up in local service on trains originating out of the West Anaheim Yard. UP 1375 is the former SP 7602, originally SP 3199. (Santa Ana, California – November 17, 2021)
