Western Maryland 24

DGVR #24 was originally built by General Motors in La Grange, Illinois, in August 1952 as a GP7 for the Wabash Railroad. However, after 20 years of service to the Wabash, the locomotive would be sold off and rebuilt by the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad in their Paducah Shops in August of 1973, being reclassified as a GP8 shortly thereafter. The Illinois Terminal Railroad would purchase the locomotive where it would serve the ITC for a number of years until being sold once again to the Elk River Railroad in the late 1990s. The ELKR would employ #24 in extensive service until the railroad’s demise in 2022, when the locomotive was purchased by a private owner and leased to DGVR for use in both freight and excursion services. In late 2024, #24 was painted into its current Western Maryland Railway “Railblazer” paint scheme.