#4243
GE P30CH
🇺🇸 United States ·built by GE Transportation· from 1975· class of 25 diesel-electric locomotives built for Amtrak
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. AMTK 703 with EB plug at Santa Clara Aug 78zz: Drew Jacksich· CC BY 2.0
- 2. Amtrak 712 with a Peninsula Commute train, October 1978: Drew Jacksich from San Jose, CA, The Republic of California· CC BY-SA 2.0
what is it?
The GE P30CH was one of the first brand-new diesel-electric locomotives built for Amtrak by General Electric during Amtrak's early years. The design was based on the GE U30C, but had a cowl carbody like its EMD competitors. Amtrak operated them between 1975 and 1992.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 51 years ago, in 1975.
- Top speed is 1.3× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 14 minutes.
- 2.2 MW is about 26 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 29 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 22 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 17 years (1975–1992).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1975
- in service from
- 1975
- retired
- 1992
- status
- retired
- number built
- 25
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- GE Transportation
- operators
- Amtrak, Southern Pacific Transportation Company
- top speed
- 166 km/h
- power
- 2.2 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Co′Co′
- length
- 22 m
- weight
- 175 t
- nicknames
- Pooch
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5513293, Wikipedia: GE P30CH (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.