EMD FP7

EMD FP7
AMTK #113 leading two EMD SDP40Fs with the San Francisco Zephyr at Yuba Gap, 1975.
Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) General Motors Diesel (GMD, Canada) Model FP7 Build date June 1949 – December 1953 Total produced 381
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR B-B Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Length 54 ft 8 in (16.66 m) Prime mover EMD 567 Cylinders V16
Performance figures Power output 1,500 hp (1,100 kW)

The EMD FP7 was 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.

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 in to the B-units. The Northern Pacific Railway's solution was to fit extra water tanks in to the first baggage car, and to pipe the water to the engines. The real breakthrough came when EMD recognized the problem and added the stretched FP7 to its catalog.

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 diesels.

F3s, F7s, and F9s equipped for passenger service are not FP-series locomotives, which although similar in appearance have distinctive differences, including 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.

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
Atlanta and West Point Rail Road	4	—	551–554	—
Atlantic Coast Line	44	—	850–893	—
Alaska Railroad	3	1	1510–1514 (even)	1507
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad	11	—	1600–1609, 1609 2nd	—	1609 1st wrecked and replaced with new unit with same road number and serial number
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway	16	7	8000–8015	8500–8506
Chicago Great Western Railway	3	—	116A,C, 116C 2nd	—	116C 1st wrecked and replaced with new unit with same road number and serial number
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad	10	—	402–411	—	Commuter service
Clinchfield Railroad	1	—	200	—
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
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
Reading Company	8	—	900–907	—
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad	3	—	1201–1203	—
Arabian American Oil Company (Saudi Arabia)	2	—	1006–1007	—
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
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	59

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
Ontario Northland Railway	22	—	1500–1521	—
Totals	57	29

Preserved examples

• Chicago Great Western Railway 116A, on display, at Hub City Heritage Railroad Museum, Oelwein, Iowa.
• Canadian Pacific Railway 4071, renumbered as Western Maryland Railway 243, in working condition and in use at the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad.
• Clinchfield Railroad 200, renumbered as Western Maryland Railway 67, in working condition and in use at the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad.
• Milwaukee Road 101A, on static display (possibly still in operable condition) in Cresco, IA.
• Milwaukee Road 104C, at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois
• Reading 902, in operating condition.
• Reading 903, in operating condition.
• 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 (of the United States) No. 6133, in working condition at the North Carolina Transportation Museum at Spencer, North Carolina.
• Southern Railway (of the United States) No. 6143, in working condition and in use at the Stone Mountain Park at Atlanta, Georgia.
• Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarkdale, Arizona uses two ex-Alaska Railroad FP7s (1510 and 1512) to haul its excursion train.
• 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.
• R.J. Corman Railroad Company/Bardstown Line operates two of the ex-Southern units on its Kentucky Dinner Train operation out of Bardstown, KY.
• Southern Railway 6143 and 6147 in working order at Stone Mountain Park. Stone Mountain, Georgia.
• Milwaukee Road 96C, in Monon livery waiting to be restored at the Indiana Transportation Museum, Noblesville, Indiana.

References

• EMD's FP7 - Original Owners. Retrieved on September 5, 2009.
• Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, WI. ISBN 0-89024-026-4.

See also

• List of GM-EMD locomotives
• List of GMD Locomotives