EMD E8
EMD E8 | |||||||||||||
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The EMD E8 was a 2,250-horsepower (1,678 kW), A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive manufactured by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of La Grange, Illinois. The cab version, or E8A, was manufactured from August, 1949 to December, 1953, and 449 were produced – 446 for U.S., and 3 for Canada. The booster version, or E8B, was manufactured from December, 1949 to January, 1954, and 46 were produced – all for the U.S. The 2,250 hp was achieved by putting two 1,125 hp (839 kW), 12 cylinder, model 567B engines in the engine compartment. Each engine drove its own generator to power the traction motors. The E8 was the ninth model in a long line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units.
The noses of the E8 cab units had the appearance of a bulldog's snout when viewed from the side. Therefore, the E7, E8, and E9 units (as well as their four axle cousins, the F-unit series) have been nicknamed “bulldog nose” units. Earlier E-unit locomotives had a more slanted nose and were nicknamed “shovel nose” units or “slant nose” units. After passenger trains were canceled on the Erie Lackawanna in 1970, the E8s were re-geared for freight and were very reliable for the EL. These units were on freight trains until the early years of Consolidated Railroad Corporation, more commonly known as "CONRAIL."
It is estimated that 58 E8s have survived into preservation.[1] A notable example is the former NYC 4085, preserved at the New York Central Railroad Museum, which has the distinction of having being the lead locomotive on the final eastbound 20th Century Limited.[2] Another surviving E8 is operated by the Midland Railway, in Baldwin City, Kansas. Privately owned, this unit is ex-Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad E8A #652 and is used for special events. NYC 4096, recently restored from scrap in the past, is also currently on display. Southern Railway E8A unit #6900 is operational at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina. It pulled the original Southern Crescent consist. Southern #6901 is on display in Duluth, GA, at the Southeastern Railway Museum. Another Southern Railway E8 #6913 is currently being restored at the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum in Oak Ridge, TN for use on their Southern excursion train. And yet another, Southern #6914, is under restoration at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. Of the aforementioned units owned by Conrail, three were saved after their freight-service retirement and went on to be refurbished by the Juniata Locomotive Shops in Altoona, PA for use as Conrail's Office Car Special (OCS) until the merger of 1999. One unit went to CSX, and two were sold off to a private individual, where they have been meticulously overhauled and painted up as twin Pennsylvania Railroad E8's.
This locomotive also appeared in a computer game calledChris Sawyer's Locomotion, introduced in 1956 and obsolete by 1980.
Original owners
Railroad | Quantity A units |
Quantity B units |
Road numbers A units |
Road numbers B units |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Electro-Motive Division (demonstrator) | to Southern Pacific 6018 | ||||
Electro-motive Division (demonstrator) | to Rock Island 643 1st E8A built | ||||
Electro-motive Division (demonstrator) | to Delaware Lackawanna & Western 810-811 | ||||
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway | Model E8m | ||||
Model E8m, rebuilt from E1A and E1B | |||||
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad | |||||
Model E8m, rebuilt from E3A | |||||
Boston and Maine Railroad | |||||
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad | Even numbers only | ||||
Model E8m, rebuilt from EA and EB | |||||
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad | |||||
Central of Georgia Railway | |||||
Chicago and North Western Railway | |||||
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad | 656 is Model E8m | ||||
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway | |||||
Canadian Pacific Railway | Bought for joint Boston and Maine service in New England; only E-units purchased new by a Canadian railroad | ||||
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad | |||||
Erie Railroad | |||||
Fort Worth and Denver Railway | |||||
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad, | Model E8m, rebuilt from an ex-B&O EA | ||||
Illinois Central Railroad | |||||
Kansas City Southern Railway | |||||
Model E8m, rebuilt from E3A | |||||
Louisville and Nashville Railroad | |||||
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad | |||||
Missouri Pacific Railroad | |||||
New York Central Railroad | |||||
Pennsylvania Railroad | |||||
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad | |||||
Seaboard Air Line Railroad | to Seaboard Coast Line 588-598 | ||||
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway | |||||
Southern Railway | renumbered 6900-6905, 6916 | ||||
Southern Railway (New Orleans and North Eastern) | |||||
Texas and Pacific Railway | |||||
Union Pacific Railroad | |||||
Model E8m, rebuilt from E2B | |||||
Wabash Railroad | |||||
Totals | 449 | 46 |
References
- Marre, Louis A. (1982). Rock Island Diesel Locomotives - 1930-1980. Railfax, Inc. ISBN 0-942192-00-1.
- Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, WI. EMD–124. ISBN 0-89024-026-4.
{{cite book}}
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ignored (|no-pp=
suggested) (help) - Reich, Sy (1973). Diesel Locomotive Rosters – The Railroad Magazine Series. Wayner Publications. No Library of Congress or ISBN.
Specific
- ^ "Surviving E Units List". Andrew Toppan. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
- ^ "National New York Central Railroad Museum - Tour". nycrrmuseum.org. Retrieved 2007-08-05.