The GM6C was a solitary testbed

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

for freight duties built by General Motors'

Electro-Motive Division Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its sub ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in collaboration with

ASEA ''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' (English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company. History ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås a ...

of Sweden. It was rolled out from EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant on May 1, 1975. Equipped with close to standard C-C HTC trucks and traction motors, it was designed for lower-speed drag freight service.

Motives

At the time, high oil prices had a number of large US railroads contemplating electrification of their most heavily used lines, while the only major US railroad with freight-hauling electrification, the

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

, had a fleet of aging locomotives needing replacement. Circumstances changed after the GM6C and GM10B locomotives were developed; oil prices declined, which wiped out the interest freight railroads had in electrification, while diesel locomotive power and adhesion were improved. Meanwhile, the bankruptcy of Penn Central led to the division of the railroad's physical plant between

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

, which inherited much of the electrified region, and Conrail. Increased access charges on the part of Amtrak led to Conrail ceasing electric operations in 1982, dismantling the electrification on its lines and avoiding Amtrak-owned rails. The two locomotives were now surplus to requirements and were returned to EMD, remaining in the LaGrange plant's yard until scrapping in the mid 1980s. The

BC Rail BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the British ...

GF6C locomotives used similar technology to the GM6C but had a wide-nose cab and carbody.

References

{{EMD misc GM06C C-C locomotives 11 kV AC locomotives 25 kV AC locomotives 50 kV AC locomotives Experimental locomotives Electric locomotives of the United States Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1975 Freight locomotives