What does GF-30v mean on the side of CN Locomotives? I know they are sd-40-2s, but what does all that mean?

Question

Some fellow RRers up north tell me what all that means

Answer 1

i do not KNOW

Answer 2

This is CN's standardized locomotive classification system.  Here's what it breaks down to:

G - GMD (builder)

F - Freight (type of service)

30 - 3000 horsepower

v - 21st number group (1st is "a", 2nd is "b" and so on)

In this case, GF-30v refers to SD40-2's 5364-5381, which were bought second-hand after 20 other groups of SD40's and SD40-2(W)'s.

For builders, G is GMD (now EMD), M is MLW, E is GE and C is CLC (Canadian Locomotive Company, subsidiary of Fairbanks-Morse).

Sometimes the number of axles is added in front of the horsepower.

A few examples:

GF-430a: GMD, Freight, 4 axles, 3000 hp, 1st group.  This applies to GP40-2LW's #9400-9490.  #9491-9530 were GF-430b, #9531-9632 were GF-430c, etc.

EF-644e: GE, Freight, 6 axles, 4400 hp, 5th group.  This refers to C44-9W's #2643-2672 which followed 4 groups of C44-9WL's.

MR-20b: MLW, Roadswitcher, 2000 hp, 2nd group.  This was M420(W)'s #3530-3559.

There's much more to the classification system--the rest is explained here.

http://cnlines.ca/CNcyclopedia/loco/clas...