ENGINE #1813 HISTORY
French Lick Scenic Railway 1813
EMD GP16 Built September 1952
This locomotive was originally built by GM’s Electro-Motive Division in 1952 as a GP7 for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad with the road number of 990. The locomotive would have been used in the South East and East coast of the US hauling freight. The Seaboard Air Line and Atlantic Coast Line Railroads merged to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1967, locomotive 990 (1813) would receive a new paint job but would otherwise be unchanged by the merger. Between June 1979 and November 1982 the Seaboard Coast Line would send 155 locomotives to the diesel shops to be rebuilt into GP16 locomotives. The rebuild would include updating the frame, remanufacturing the trucks and traction motors, upgrading the prime mover with new model parts, replacing the cab, removing the dynamic brakes, replacing the control stand, and “chopping” the high hood nose. The rebuild would result in the locomotive gaining more horsepower with a new rating of 1,600hp hence the designation GP16. In 1982 the Seaboard Coast Line would again reorganize this time as the Seaboard System Railroad, with the locomotive this time being renumbered to 4767. The Seaboard System would last less than 4 years until it finally merged with the Chessie System to become CSX in 1986. The locomotive would be renumbered to 1813 by CSX and would keep that number until today. CSX would retire 1813 on February 18, 1993, but this would not be the end of the locomotive’s long career as it would be sold to the Indiana Railroad (INRD) sometime in 1994. Just before the locomotive would turn 60 years old it would be sold to the Indiana Railway Museum in 2011 starting its career pulling passenger trains just as it does today.
