The Clinchfield Railroad, short for Carolina, Clinchfield, and Ohio, operated from Kentucky to South Carolina via Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. The locomotive depicted in this original gouache painting, engine #900, is a GP7 that was delivered from General Motors Electro Motive Division (possibly from its plant in Cleveland Ohio) in December, 1950.

Some GP7s retained the paint scheme shown in this painting until the 1970s, while others were repainted predominately black in around 1970. See https://www.american-rails.com/images/x5667ib4430098433.jpg.pagespeed.ic.lEI9mEjG5w.jpg for what appears to be another EMD painting of the 911, a sister to the 900.

The GP-7 was EMD's attempt to compete with locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company, Baldwin, and Fairbanks Morse as road switchers, meaning they were equally adept at hauling mainline trains as shunting cars around a switchyard. EMD's first attempt, the BL2 (the ''Diesel that didn't''), was a failure, as railroads purchased only 58 of them. The GP7 (the ''GP'' stands for general purpose) differed by having a narrow body, allowing the crew in the cab to look forward and backwards without sticking their heads out the windows and also allowing brakemen to stand on the outside walkways where they could jump off the locomotive and throw switches.

The GP7 used the same engine and was rated the same horsepower as the BL2, but the new design was much more successful, as EMD sold well over 2,700 locomotives of this type, plus thousands more GP-9s, which were externally similar but had 1,750-horsepower engines. Although a few railroads used GP7s for passenger trains, Clinchfield, which bought 17 GP7s, used them exclusively for freight service.

The Clinchfield was unhappy with the locomotive as it failed to purchase them with dynamic brakes, limiting the size of freight trains they could haul in the mountains. Later GP locomotives purchased by the railroad included such brakes. Despite this problem, the 900 survived on the Clinchfield until 1979, when it was rebuilt by Illinois Central Gulf Railroad for the Clinchfield into a locomotive with higher horsepower, better brakes, and electronic controls. Clinchfield called the result a GP16.

Image size 14 x 21, the board measures 20 x 26 inches.

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Very good original condition.