EMD FP7
The EMD FP7 is a 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW), B-B dual-service passenger and freight-hauling diesel locomotive produced between June 1949 and December 1953 by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant, excepting locomotives destined for Canada, in which case final assembly was at GMD's plant in London, Ontario. The FP7 was essentially EMD's F7A locomotive extended by four feet to give greater water capacity for the steam generator for heating passenger trains.
| EMD FP7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Western Pacific 805-A, an EMD FP7, pulls the California Zephyr in March 1970 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Design
While EMD's E-units were successful passenger engines, their A1A-A1A wheel arrangement made them less useful in mountainous terrain. Several railroads had tried EMD's F3 in passenger service, but there was insufficient water capacity in an A-unit fitted with dynamic brakes. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's solution was to replace the steam generators in A-units with a water tank, and so only fitted steam generators into the B-units. The Northern Pacific Railway's solution was to fit extra water tanks into the first baggage car, and to pipe the water to the engines. EMD's solution to the problem was to add the stretched FP7 to its catalog increasing the water storage capacity.
A total of 381 cab-equipped lead A units were built; unlike the freight series, no cabless booster B units were sold. Regular F7B units were sometimes used with FP7 A units, since they, lacking cabs, had more room for water and steam generators. The FP7 and its successor, the FP9, were offshoots of GM-EMD's highly successful F-unit series of cab unit freight diesel locomotives.
F3s, F7s, and F9s equipped for passenger service are not FP-series locomotives, which, although similar in appearance, have distinctive differences. This includes, but not limited to, the greater body length. The extra 4 ft (1.2 m) of length was added behind the first body-side porthole, and can be recognised by the greater distance between that porthole and the first small carbody filter grille. The corresponding space beneath the body, behind the front truck, was also opened up; this either remained an empty space or was filled with a distinctive water tank shaped like a barrel mounted transversely.[1]
Over their production run, there were numerous detail changes including the style of side grills (notably on Canadian-built units), carbody louvres, and dynamic brake fan sizing (36 in [0.91 m] initially, 48 in [1.2 m] on later production units). Some railroads such as Southern Pacific and Canadian Pacific outfitted their units with rooftop-mounted icicle breakers for protecting dome car windows in mountain territory where icicles formed around the roofs of tunnels.
Original buyers
Locomotives built by EMD at La Grange, Illinois
| Railroad | Quantity FP7 | Quantity F7B (where bought with FP7) | Road numbers FP7 | Road numbers F7B | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electro-Motive Division (demonstrator) | 1 | 2 | 7001 | 7002–7003 | to Soo Line (Wisconsin Central) 2500A, 2500B, 2501B |
| Electro-Motive Division (demonstrator) | 1 | 2 | 9051 | 9052–9053 | to Soo Line 500A, 500B, 501B |
| Arabian American Oil Company (Saudi Arabia) | 2 | — | 1006–1007 | — | Built with 567C engines |
| Atlanta and West Point Rail Road | 4 | — | 551–554 | — | |
| Atlantic Coast Line | 44 | — | 850–893 | — | |
| Alaska Railroad | 3 | 1 | 1510–1514 (even) | 1507 | 1510-1514 built with 567BC engines |
| Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad | 11 | — | 1600–1609, 1609 2nd | — | 1609 1st destroyed at Mode, IL 6/28/1951 and rebuilt on a new frame with same road number and serial number |
| Chesapeake and Ohio Railway | 16 | 7 | 8000–8015 | 8500–8506 | |
| Chicago Great Western Railway | 3 | 5 | 116-A, -C, 116-C 2nd | 116-B,D,E,F,G | 116-C 1st destroyed at North Hanover, IL 6/2/1951 and rebuilt on a new frame with same road number and serial number. |
| Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad | 10 | — | 402–411 | — | |
| Clinchfield Railroad | 1 | — | 200 | — | repaint into family lines paint then to Seaboard System and renumbered to 118 then To CSX |
| Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México | 17 | 7 | 6300–6309, 6328A–6334A | 6328B–6334B | |
| Ferrocarril Sonora–Baja California | 2 | — | 23035–23036 | — | |
| Florida East Coast Railway | 5 | — | 571–575 | — | |
| Georgia Railroad | 3 | — | 1002–1004 | ||
| Louisville and Nashville Railroad | 45 | 600–634, 663–672 | |||
| Milwaukee Road | 32 | 16 | 90A,C–105A,C | 90B–105B | 90–94 renumbered 60–64 for freight service; 93A (63A) and 104A sold to GO Transit 96A sold to Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad re-entered service 2020 |
| Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad | 8 | 4 | 121A,C–124A,C | 121B–124B | |
| Northern Pacific Railway | 2 | — | 6600–6601 | — | |
| Pennsylvania Railroad | 40 | 14 | 9832A–9871A | 9832B–9858B (even) | A units renumbered 4332-4371 and B units 4150-4163 by PRR for Penn Central; 18 scattered A units 4332–4370 to Conrail |
| Reading Company | 8 | — | 900–907 | — | 900, 902, 903 to SEPTA, renumbered 4371-4373 |
| Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad | 3 | — | 1201–1203 | — | |
| St. Louis–San Francisco Railway | 12 | — | 5040–5051 | — | |
| Soo Line | 5 | 2 | 501A–503A, 504–505 | 502B–503B | |
| Soo Line (Wisconsin Central Railway) | 1 | – | 2501A | — | |
| Southern Railway (Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway) | 20 | 6130–6149 | |||
| Southern Pacific Company | 16 | 6446–6461 | 6446–6451; 6453–6459; 6461 to Amtrak 110-123 | ||
| St. Louis Southwestern Railway ("Cotton Belt") | 1 | — | 330 | — | Renumbered to 306 then leased to Southern Pacific as SP 6462 |
| Union Pacific Railroad | 2 | 2 | 911-912 | 910B, 910C | Renumbered to 1498 - 1499 |
| Western Railway of Alabama | 2 | – | 502–503 | — | |
| Western Pacific Railroad | 4 | 2 | 804A,C–805A,C | 804B–805B | |
| Totals | 324 | 64 | |||
Locomotives built by GMD at London, Ontario
| Railroad | Quantity FP7 | Quantity F7B (were bought with FP7) | Road numbers FP7 | Road numbers F7B | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Pacific Railway | 35 | 29 | 4028–4041, 4058–4063, 4066–4075, 4099–4103 | 4424–4448, 4459–4462 | Some renumbered as 1400- and 1900- series passenger units, some later resold to Via Rail in 1978. |
| Ontario Northland Railway | 22 | — | 1500–1521 | — | 1500, 1503–1505, 1507, 1511-1514 converted into HEP control cars for GO Transit |
| Totals | 57 | 29 | |||
Preserved examples
- Alaska Railroad 1510 and 1512, used by the Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarkdale, Arizona, on its excursion train.
- Chicago Great Western Railway 116-A, on display, at Hub City Heritage Railroad Museum,[2] Oelwein, Iowa.
- Canadian Pacific Railway 4038, at Minnedosa, MB.
- Canadian Pacific Railway 4069, in working condition and in use at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park; see West Coast Railway Association.
- Canadian Pacific Railway 4071, renumbered as Western Maryland Railway 243, in working condition and in use at the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad.
- Canadian Pacific Railway 4099 was later renumbered 1400. After a stint with Via Rail and Nebkota, it was reacquired by CP and given the number 1400 again. It was retired again in 2007 and is preserved on static display at the company's Ogden headquarters, as CP 1400.
- Clinchfield Railroad 200, renumbered as Western Maryland Railway 67, in working condition and in use at the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad. It was previously used on the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad.
- Milwaukee Road 96C, in Monon livery, inoperable at the former Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville, Indiana.
- Milwaukee Road 101A, on static display (was non-operational when acquired but reportedly restored by volunteers to operable condition[3]) in Cresco, Iowa.
- Milwaukee Road 104C, at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois.
- Reading 900, at the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, Pennsylvania
- Reading 902, on display at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
- Reading 903, also on display at Steamtown.
- Soo Line 500A (né EMD demonstrator #9051), on display at Ladysmith, Wisconsin.
- Soo Line 2500A (né EMD demonstrator #7001), restored to working condition, at Lake Superior Railroad Museum, Duluth, Minnesota.
- Southern Railway (CNO&TP) 6133, in working condition at the North Carolina Transportation Museum at Spencer, North Carolina.
- Southern Railway (CNO&TP) 6143 and 6147, in working condition and in use at the Stone Mountain Park at Atlanta.
- Southern Railway (CNO&TP) 6141 and 6138 as RJ Corman 1940 and 1941 in use by the Kentucky Dinner Train operation out of Bardstown, Kentucky.
- Western Pacific 805-A, a locomotive used on the famous California Zephyr, is preserved in operable condition at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola, California.
References
Notes
- Foster, Gerald L. (1996). A field guide to trains of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 98. ISBN 0-395-70112-0.
- "Home". Hub City Heritage Corporation Railway Museum.
- "Beadle Park – Cresco, Iowa". Iowa Beautiful.
Bibliography
- Dorin, Patrick C. (1972). Chicago and North Western Power. Burbank, California: Superior Publishing. pp. 123–127. ISBN 0-87564-715-4.
- Lamb, J. Parker (2007). Evolution of the American Diesel Locomotive. Railroads Past and Present. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34863-0.
- Marre, Louis A. (1995). Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years: A Guide to Diesels Built Before 1972. Railroad Reference Series. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89024-258-2.
- Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89024-026-7.
- Schafer, Mike (1998). Vintage Diesel Locomotives. Enthusiast Color Series. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7603-0507-2.
- Solomon, Brian (2000). The American Diesel Locomotive. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-7603-0666-6.
- Solomon, Brian (2005). EMD F-Unit Locomotives. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press. ISBN 978-1-58007-192-5.
- Solomon, Brian (2006). EMD Locomotives. St. Paul, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0-7603-2396-0.
- Solomon, Brian (2010). Vintage Diesel Power. Minneapolis, Minnesota: MBI Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7603-3795-0.
- Solomon, Brian (2011). Electro-Motive E-Units and F-Units: The Illustrated History of North America's Favorite Locomotives. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0-7603-4007-3.
- Solomon, Brian (2012). North American Locomotives: A Railroad-by-Railroad Photohistory. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0-7603-4370-8.
- Wilson, Jeff (1999). F Units: The Diesels That Did It. Golden Years of Railroading. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89024-374-9.
- EMD Product Reference Data Card dated January 1, 1959 has the 567BC and 567C engine data used in the as-built roster.
External links
