ILLinois Central Gulf 7738

Illinois Central Gulf #7738 is currently the largest locomotive in the BGRM collection. Originally built as a
GP-7 for the Frisco Railroad as their number #610, 7738 saw years of service pulling freight on the west coast.

  What 7738 would have looked like when built for the Frisco.

After her career with the Frisco ended, 7738 was sold to the Illinois Central Gulf a subsidary of the Illinois Central. There she was repainted and renumbered.

An example of IC colors. 7738 would have looked like this while in service on the ICG with the exception that the ICG logo had the dot centered over the rail instead of placed to the left.

There she was sent to the Illinois Central shops in Paducah, Kentucky in the late 1970's for an overhaul. It was common in the 70's for railroads to upgrade postwar era diesels in order to save money by not building completely new locomotives. Doing this resulted in some odd variations of well known locomotive designs. 7738 being an example in that she was rebuilt into what the Paducah shops dubbed a GP-8. This involved chopping down the cab for better visablity, adding turbochargers to the prime mover, and several other modifications. This resulted in a very different looking locomotive.

7738 as she is today. Notice how the nose has been chopped from the photo above and the ICG logo blacked out by the Mississippi Delta. If you look closely at the engines side you can still make out a raised "FRISCO" under the paint.

After several more years of service on the ICG, 7738 was retired from mainline service. She was passed around by several shortline companies over several years. These included the Mississippi Delta Railroad, which blacked out the original ICG logo and replaced it with there own. After the Missippi Delta 7738 was sold to the Gulf & Ohio Railroad Company which operates several shortlines throughout the mid-south. There she operated on the G&O operated Lexington & Ohio Railroad pulling freight between Lexington and Versailles, Kentucky. The L&O was purchased by R.J. Corman in 2002 and left 7738 without a home as Corman did not want her. Thus with the cooperation of the museum she was donated to the BGRM to pull excursion trains.

A model of how 7738 would look like once she is restored in full ICG colors.

Today the BGRM is currently working on repainting 7738 back into her ICG colors. Also on the drawing board is the repair and upgrading of her electrical systems in order to ensure that she will remain operational for generations to come.

If you wish to help the museum obtain this goal, please contact us and request to be sent the "7738 Restoration Fund" form. Once you recieve the form fill it out completely and send it to:

"7738 Restoration Fund"
P.O. Box 27
Versailles, KY 40383

All donations are tax deductable