Modern 4 axles

These are the bread and butter 4 axle engines, they are used by class 1's and leasing companies alike.

GP38-2

GP15-1

B23-7

MP15

SW1500

Or the bigger  4 axles:

GP40-2

GP50

GP60

GP60M

B40-8

B39-8

You didn't define your branch line.

Is it owned by a class one, and if so which one?  As far as I know Gp60m's were only owned by the Santa Fe, and are now the latest power to be downgraded from mainline to local switching service.  On the other hand, the Santa Fe only had one Gp40-2 which was destroyed in a wreck just before or just after the merger if I remember correctly.  If BNSF has any Gp40-2's they came from the BN side of the merger.  However the Santa Fe had over 300 Gp39-2's in all phases.  I believe most of those have been put into local service.

On the other hand, the U.P. has a lot less older equipment, and most of it is ex-S.P.  Most of the old S.P. locos are used in yard service.  In the City of Industry, at least I saw remarkably few 4 axle locos in local service.  The only one I remember was an ex-U.P. Gp40-2 that was sold to a leasing company and leased back still in U.P. colors.

If your branch is part of a shortline, it would probably run used equipment sold off by the class one's

my branch line

My line will be a free lance layout...so I am looking for 4 axles, and selling my 6 axles that I wont be using.  so I plan on having a small variety of small engines

US or Canadian 4 axle branchline power?

Dear Nathan,

Dave1905 has already got your covered in terms of "plausible 4-axle branch power" for a _US_ branchline,

but noting your Ont. tag, is your modelled branchline in the US or Canada?

If the former, go with Dave's list
(there's plenty of locos on he list available in the major scales RTR,
just "pumpkin" or "bandit" then with your shortline's reporting marks, and you're done...)

However, if your modelled branchline/shortline in Canadian, I'd expect to see more Canadian-specific 4-axles, such as

- SW1200RS
- SW1200 "Sweeps"
- GP38-2s and similar
- ex SOO MP15s
- etc

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

not so much Canadian content

Seeing that the Goderich and Exeter Railway (Ontario) runs past the back of my place, I have a fair idea of what an Ontario shortline runs.  They have leaser GATX SD40's and a patchwork of relettered units from all over the US running.  There is no particular Canadian motive power presence.  Since Free Trade between the US and Canada it has been easier for US units to be brought up here and most of the shortlines are Rail America or Railtex operations, making them pretty much US operations.

There are some ex-Canadian units on some lines around here, like an RS18 and RS23 on the Guelph Jct Railway and some M420's, I believe, on the Ontario Southland, but they are the exceptions.  I don't keep up with it all, but it certainly seems there are a lot of American-built engines around now.

Don't forget the older 4 axle GPs

I live here in Maine and I regularly see still in service for branchline or a local switching job or even in yard service former Maine Central GP-7 or GP-9's as well as "newer GP-40s that Pan Am Railways aquired through Guilford Transpotation.  So, really, anything on a freelance is plausible as long as your ok with it.  

I'm sort of partial

to EMD's GP38-2 model. I have ten of them on my model roster, all Life-like's Proto 2000 version. Good detail, smooth running and good lugging ability. Atlas' new Trainman version (plus their GP39-2 as well) are priced affordably and out there on the market. You can find the Life-like version on eBay, and I just picked up another pair for less than $70 each.

IMO you can't go wrong with either model version - it just comes down to personal preferences.

Oh, and there's always Athearn's bullet-proof version too.

I think just about any 4 axle diesel will work for you.

I'm most familiar with Santa Fe practice, but I'm not sure that they are not typical of other class 1 railroads.  They sold off all of the Cf7's in the late 1980's, I think, except for the 5 that they kept for the LAJ.  4 on the LAJ were sent to Texas just recently, and there is one left that is not able to be pulled in a train even dead.  They got rid of the U23b's sometime in the 1990's, either just before or just after the BNSF merger.  As they have downgraded the Gp60m's to branch line and local service, and are adding rebuilt cabs to the Gp60b's I expect to see them start to dispose of the chop nosed Gp7's and 9's.  I'm not sure how many of the older BN locomotives have been disposed of, but depending on the financial strength of your railroad, virtually any 4 axle diesel would be appropriate.

I would also point out that the Arkansas & Missouri RR runs a 100% Alco fleet because when they went to the used market they found that the Alcos were @ 1/3 the price of a similar used EMD units.  They bought all of the Alco Century 420's that they could find and rebuilt 1/3 of them and stripped the others for spare parts.

Since you are modeling a freelance railroad, you can use whatever models you like or find the best deals on.

Once I have them ....

Once I have them, I will post pictures, there will be a GP20M, MP15DC and a few others

Dash-8's

In Connecticut, Providence and Worcester uses a lot of Dash-8 40B's, since Amtrak won't allow them to run six axle power. It's not uncommon to see two or three of them on a freight. I think they also have some Geep's. Connecticut Southern also uses them. It's not big time railroading in the freight sense so much, but they (P&W) do run on the Acela's route at times.

  I would guess the 'era' you

I would guess the 'era' you are modeling will affect the mix of 4 axle power.  Older 567 block EMD's(like the GP7/GP9) engines cannot be upgraded to meet Part 1033 of the Clean Air Act - They will be leaving the roster of many railroads over the next few years.  This also includes any GE engines with the FDL prime mover(up through Dash-9's).  There appears to be no upgrade kit from GE that will qualify them for Part 1033 compliance.

BNSF and UP have been very aggressive  in selling of older engines that cannot be upgraded.  Lots of Dash 8 GE's have been sold off to Canadian roads that are not affected by the EPA standards.  BNSF has even been putting older Dash 9's in storage.

Good modern 4 axle road engines like the GP38/39 series by EMD are 'gold'.  BNSF has bought up lots of 'beaters'(they call them 'cores') and have had various re-builders upgrade them to Dash 2 or better standards.  Their 645 prime movers can be upgraded/certified to meet Part 1033 compliance standards.  There are no 2000-2500 hp  engines available from either of the two major builders.  All that is available 'new' is genset engines.  Gensets are great for yard operations, but their fuel savings drops when all three gensets are running in road service.  They also have had reliability issues.

On my 'modern' BNSF layout, I have a good size fleet of Atlas GP38, GP38-2, & GP39-2 engines to handle local traffic on the Pecatonica Division.  I have an Atlas genset in the yard, and use Kato SD40-2's for most of the road trains.  Even the real BNSF is getting low in SD40-2's.  Most are now in the 1600 & 1700 series - assigned to yard service.  Many ex-BN SD40-2's that were in coal service has been re-assigned - I guess the 'creep control' for loading/unloading coal trains comes in handy for hump pusher service!

Jim