General Motors Diesel Division
General Motors Diesel Division (GMDD) was the Canadian heavy equipment manufacturing branch of automobile maker General Motors Corporation. Among other products, they were responsible for the Canadian manufacturing of GM's transit buses, and many of the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) locomotives bought by Canadian railroads under EMD's Canadian subsidiary, General Motors Diesel Ltd. (GMD).
History
Rail Assembly
In 1950, due to locomotive production at its EMD La Grange IL plant being at capacity, and in an attempt to circumnavigate the duties charged on locomotives shipped to Canada, GM opened an assembly plant in London, Ontario for the manufacturing of EMD railway locomotives and equipment for both Canadian railways and overseas markets. From the outset, the plant was designed primarily for assembly of a variety of components shipped from either EMD's operations in the U.S., or a variety of subcontractors in Canada. The completed plant, officially known as General Motors Diesel Ltd. (GMD), was located on former rural farmland and opened for production on August 11th 1950.
The plant's two main domestic railway customers were the Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway, but they produced locomotives for smaller regional railways including the British Columbia Railway, Quebec Cartier Mining, Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo, passenger locomotives for VIA Rail and GO Transit, and various Canadian shortlines and industrial customers. Its first order was for 10 FP7 units for CP (4028-4037), but the plant ended up outshopping TH&B GP7's 71 and 72 from another order first.
The plant also handled much of EMD's export locomotive orders destined for other countries. Early customers also included US railways that operated trackage in and through Canada, including the New York Central, Chesapeake & Ohio, and Wabash (this would allow them to have locally-built power on their Canadian operations, avoiding duties).
GMD locomotive production in Canada would mirror EMD production at their La Grange, Illinois plant, and offer most of the same models available to US buyers in Canada. GMD also produced some unique Canadian-only models such as the GMD-1 and SW1200RS, and locomotives specifically designed for the Canadian market and/or Canadian customers, including the Canadian Safety Cab-equipped GP38-2W, GP40-2LW/W, SD40-2W, and full cowl-bodied SD40-2F, SD50F and SD60F models.
In the 1980's and 1990's, much of EMD's North American locomotive assembly work was consolidated from La Grange to the GMD London plant.
The name of the operation changed over the years, in 1969 it became the Diesel Division of General Motors of Canada, Ltd. GM Locomotive Group (GMLG) was another name used. When the operations were sold in 2005, EMD was renamed Electro-Motive Diesel Inc, and the London operations became Electro-Motive Canada.
Bus Assembly
In 1959, GM introduced the "New Look" transit bus, which was adopted by many transit agencies across North America, with thousands eventually manufactured. The streamlined design was imitated by other manufacturers such as Flxible and Flyer (later New Flyer Industries), and became an iconic design for many years to come.
Starting in 1961, New Look bus assembly for Canadian transit agencies was performed in the GMDD Heavy Equipment building in London until being moved to a new factory in St-Eustache, Quebec, in 1979. The last US-built New Look was assembled in 1977; however, production continued at GMDD in Quebec until 1986.
In 1977, GMC, GMDD's American counterpart, introduced the Rapid Transit Series (RTS) bus. GMDD considered manufacturing the RTS for the Canadian market, but decided not to when Canadian transit agencies stated their dislike of the RTS's design. As a result, GMDD continued to manufacture New Looks for the Canadian market, as well as for a few American agencies after GMC ceased producing the New Look upon introduction of the RTS.
In 1982, GMDD introduced the Classic, a modernized, updated version of the New Look. The design was met with positive reactions from transit agencies in Canada, as well as the U.S., where several agencies ordered Classics instead of RTS's.
As the 1980's continued, GMDD saw increasing competition from manufacturers such as the then Ontario-government owned Orion, and Winnipeg-based New Flyer Industries, which were popular in their home provinces. GMDD's buses remained popular in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, however.
In 1987, GMDD's transit bus operations were sold to Motor Coach Industries, who continued manufacture of the Classic until 1993, introducing an articulated version of the Classic that was only ever purchased by two transit agencies due to the purchase of MCI's transit bus division by NovaBus, a company founded by employees of the St-Eustache assembly plant.
NovaBus discontinued production of the articulated Classic (after completing an order of them from Halifax), focusing solely on producing the 40-foot version until they introduced the LFS (Low Floor Series) bus in 1995. Following this, orders for the Classic dropped, and NovaBus ceased production of the Classic in 1997, after completing an order for Auger Metropolitain in Châteauguay, Quebec.
NovaBus still uses the St-Eustache assembly plant that was first opened by GMDD 39 years ago.
Later Years
In 2003, GM Defense (which was housed in the former Heavy Equipment building at EMD London) was sold to General Dynamics Land Systems, who continue to use the property.
April 4, 2005 GM announced that it had sold all of the assets of EMD and GMDD to Greenbriar Equity LLC and Berkshire Partners LLC. The new corporation is now known as Electro-Motive Diesel. In 2010, EMD was acquired by Progress Rail (a Caterpillar subsidiary).
Following a labour dispute, owner Progress Rail announced that the former GMDD London assembly plant would close in 2012, and locomotive production moved to a new plant in the US in Muncie, Indiana. The buildings and property were sold off for other uses.
Product Lines
Bus
Rail
- F-unit series Locomotives (F7A/F7B, FP7, FP9, F9B)
- GP-series Locomotives
- SD-series Locomotives
- SW-series Locomotives
- F40PH
- F59PH
(not all locomotive models listed)