62 http://www.ModelRailroader.comProduct Reviews
A newly tooled chop-nose GP9 has
been added to the WalthersMainline.
The four-axle HO scale road switcher is
offered with or without dynamic brakes
as appropriate and features drill starter
points for grab irons and eye bolts and a
ratchet-style handbrake (a detail kit is
sold separately, no. 910-258).The prototype. Our sample is painted
as Milwaukee Road no. 970, one of 54
Electro-Motive Division (EMD) GP9s
rebuilt by the railroad between June
1969 and October 1973. The rebuild
included installing a non-turbocharged
645E diesel engine; refurbishing the
frame; lowering the short hood; rebuild-
ing the cab with a split windshield, new
headlight, and number box housing; and
reclassifying the locomotive a GP20.
Milwaukee’s GP20s shouldn’t be con-
fused with stock EMD GP20s produced
between November 1959 and April 1962.
Those units had a turbocharger hatch on
top of the long hood. The low short hood
versions had a slanted hood.
Much to my surprise, GP20 no. 970
(now Georgia & Florida RR no. 5002)was photographed still in service in
June 2019.The model. The WalthersMainline GP9
features a four-piece injection-molded
plastic body, consisting of the long
hood, cab, short hood, and sill unit. The
rolled-style handrails and formed-metalstanchions are molded in engineering
plastic; the vertical handrails are painted
white on our sample.
The model is based on what railfans
refer to as a Phase II GP9, built between
1955 and October 1957. The model’s
dimensions closely follow prototype
drawings of a high short hood GP9WalthersMainline HO scale chop-nose GP9
The GP9 (CNW sample shown)
has drill-starter points for
grab irons. Walthers offers
a detail kit for the
model separately.