GP-9 Diesel Locomotive

COX GP-9s

The COX GP-9 is a low-nose example of a popular EMD diesel locomotive built in the '50s for a variety of the nation's railroads. Though many roads operated GP-9s that had a low nose, most were "chopped" from original high-nose GP-9s and thus tend to have spotting marks unique to the railroad that did the work. EMD did offer the GP-9 in a low-nose model, but it was produced in this style in fairly small quantity making this COX model correct for only a few prototypes.

The tool-and-die work on the COX GP-9 closely resembles the original Athearn high-nose GP-9. As is done frequently in the model train business, the Athearn GP-9 likely served as the basis for the COX model. Evidence of the Athearn model serving as the inspiration may be seen in the wider than prototype long-hood. Cox introduced this model at the 1974 Chicago Hobby Show.

COX introduces their GP-9 in 1974 and offered it in the roadnames seen above, plus the fictious 'Big Pine Lumber' model. You can see the Big Pine Lumber GP-9(6111-7) on the home page of this site.

The June 1975 issue of Railroad Modeler magazine reviewed the COX GP-9. The review was mostly positive, stating that COX appeared to be trying to satisfy both the toy train and modeler market with this offer. Additional comments included the reference to the unique status of a low-nose or chop-nose GP-9 as a factory offering from EMD. Phelps-Dodge and Southern Pacific are provided as two known examples of roads that originally purchased a GP-9 from EMD with the low-nose option. Many roads would later modifiy existing geeps, making them chop-nose models. The original retail for this model is provided in the Railroad Modeler review as being $10.95. The Chessie System example is shown in B&W images for the review.

Today's HO-scale market has two close cousins to the COX GP-9. Model Power has a GP-9 that appears to be made from the same molds as the COX unit. Walthers offers a GP-9 that looks to have used the COX model as its inspiration. Walthers has done some improvements filling in the holes on the side of the shell that the underframe snapped into on the original COX model.

Canadian GP-9 releases included a trio of roadnames not found in the American Cox line: Canadian National; CP Rail; and Ontario Northland. The Canadian stock numbers for the U.S. GP-9 models differed from their American counterparts. In Canada, the Championship Trails GP-9 carried No.611370; Chessie System was No.611360; Rock Island was #611350; Santa Fe was #611340; and Big Pine Lumber was #611170.

One variation known in the Cox GP-9 production is the handrails. Early examples included flat metal handrails, while later models were produced with flexible plastic handrails.

GP-9 Diesel Locomotive

Big Pine Lumber

No. 611170

GP-9 Diesel Locomotive

Canadian National

No.611372

COX Championship Trails GP-9

GP-9 Diesel Locomotive

Championship Train

No. 6113-7

GP-9 Diesel Locomotive

Chessie

No. 6113-6

GP-9 Diesel Locomotive

CP Rail

No.611373

Ontario Northland GP-9

GP-9 Diesel Locomotive

Ontario Northland

No.611371

GP-9 Diesel Locomotive

Rock Island

No. 6113-5

GP-9 Diesel Locomotive

Santa Fe

No. 6113-4

Please note that this site was created for use by those with an interest in HO-scale model trains and does not necessarily represent the current Athearn line available today. The author is not affiliated with, nor representing Cox in any way. This site is intended for your enjoyment and information only.
Images and information presented on this site comes from a variety of sources including magazines, internet, catalogs, visitor input, and the author's collection.