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EMD GP18 Diesel
Amtrak
No. 5012-15 Amtrak #766 -1979 Release
No. 5012-16 Amtrak #768 -1979 Release
No. 5012-17 Amtrak #771 -1979 Release
No. 5012-18 Amtrak #773 -1979 Release

EMD GP18 Diesel
Burlington Northern 
No. 16254 w/caboose
No. 16654 w/non-pwr matching GP-18

EMD GP18 Diesel
Chessie System 
No. 5012-11
No. 16252 w/caboose
No. 16652 w/non-pwr matching GP-18
 
Some years after AHM departs the hobby, Bachmann imports a run of this same GP-18 model.  Bachmann had this engine in train set offerings in the late 1980s.  The paint jobs of the Bachmann GP-18 model matches that of the AHM.  Bachmann had three roadnames (Chessie, Santa Fe, and Union Pacific) in its GP-18 roster.

EMD GP18 Diesel
Chicago & North Western
No. 5012-B
No. 5012-02

ahm_gp18_erie.jpg

EMD GP18 Diesel
Erie Lackawanna
No. 5012-13 -1977 Release

EMD GP18 Diesel
Frisco 
No. 5012-08

EMD GP18 Diesel
Great Northern 
No. 5012-C
No. 5012-C & CD -Powered & Dummy
No. 5012-03
No. 16754 w/blinking beacon

EMD GP18 Diesel
Illinois Central
No. 5012-07
No. 5012-G
No. 5012-G & GD -Powered & Dummy

EMD GP18 Diesel
Lehigh Valley
No. 5012-12 -1977 Release

Click To View Larger Image

EMD GP18 Diesel
Norfolk & Western (Blue) 
No. 5012-10
No. 5012-J

EMD GP18 Diesel
Norfolk & Western Spirit of '76
No. 5012-09
 
AHM used its GP18 to create an N&W 1776 model.  Bachmann also applied the N&W red, white and blue scheme, but they used their U36B.  The prototype N&W #1776 in Bicentennial dress was a high-nose SD45, which has recently been done by Athearn in its Ready To Roll line.

EMD GP18 Diesel
Norfolk & Western (Maroon) 
No.16752

EMD GP18 Diesel
Reading
No. 5021-E
No. 5012-05

EMD GP18 Diesel
Rock Island
No.
 
This GP-18 dressed in The Rock blue and white appears on the inside back cover of an AHM catalog around 1980 and is not included in the regular catalog listings for the GP-18. 

EMD GP18 Diesel
Santa Fe (blue-and-yellow)
No. 5012-F
No. 5012-06

GP-18 Diesel Santa Fe

EMD GP18 Diesel
Santa Fe (red-and-silver)
No. 16251 w/caboose
No. 16651 w/non-pwr matching GP-18

EMD GP18 Diesel
Seaboard Spirit of '76
No. 5012-14
No. 5012-N
No. 5012-N & ND -Powered & Dummy

EMD GP18 Diesel
Soo Line
No. 5012-D
No. 5012-D & DD -Powered & Dummy
No. 5012-04

EMD GP18 Diesel
Western Pacific
No. 16753

AHM displayed an HO-scale sample of EMD's 1,800 hp GP18 at the 1974 Chicago Hobby Show. The model's frame includes hand railing with design similar to other European-made models of this period. The upper structure is a single plastic shell that features the long and short hoods and cab section of the GP18. It was a rare example in its day of a plastic geep model that had close to scale-width hood. Following AHM's offering of this model, Bachmann imports this same GP18 to market in train sets in the late 1980s and early 1990s. IHC Hobby imported the Mehano-made GP18 in the 1990s to North American hobbyists. Outside the U.S., Mehano boxed examples of the GP18 are available. Mehano of Slovenia is the maker of the model today, AHM's GP18 offerings came from the same source, but the country of origin was Yugoslavia when AHM was in business. Yugoslavia is today Slovenia.

The GP18 was built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) between 1959 and 1963. You may read more about the prototype, inlcuding a list of original owners of the GP18 at Wikipedia.org. Production of EMD's GP18 is divided up by rail historians into two distinct phases. AHM's GP18 includes flat-top fans found on Phase II models built after 1962, but its fuel and air tank arrangement reflects earlier Phase I offerings. The skirting over the fuel and air tanks does not resemble any GP18 design exactly, but is perhaps more representative of an early production example of this prototype. The long hood is missing a set of louvers that should reside on the last access door before the end of the unit, below the radiator grilles.

AHM offered the GP18 in a set that provided one powered and one non-powered example both lettered identically.

AHM'a GP18 with flashing beacon was an interesting variation. Here's a Norfolk & Western GP18 in maroon with gold lettering scheme with the flashing cab roof beacon option.

Early 1993 brings the Life-Like Proto 2000 series GP18 to the HO-scale model train market. You may click on the ad above for the Proto 2000 GP18 to view a larger version.

Mehano has sold the GP18 under its own name outside the United States. Above is an example of the Mehano GP18, which you may click on to go to that company's website and more information.

Image sources include AHM product catalogs and advertisments, as well as images from eBay auctions and other sources. Information presented comes from variety of sources including product catalogs, magazine articles and Wikipedia.