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) Trucks Blomberg B Wheel diameter 40 in (1,016 mm) Minimum curve 23° (250.79 ft or 76.44 m radius) Wheelbase 43 ft (13.11 m) Length 55 ft 2+1⁄4 in (16.82 m) Width 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m) Height 15 ft (4.57 m) Loco weight 260,000 lb (120,000 kg) Fuel capacity 1,200 US gal (4,500 L; 1,000 imp gal) Prime mover EMD 567B RPM range 800 Engine type Two-stroke V16 diesel Aspiration Roots-type supercharger Generator EMD D-12 Traction motors (4) EMD D-27-B Cylinders 16 Cylinder size 8+1⁄2 in × 10 in (216 mm × 254 mm)
Performance figures Maximum speed 100–119 mph (161–192 km/h) Power output 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW)
Career Locale North America, Saudi Arabia

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.

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

Preserved examples

Reading 903 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

• 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, 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.
• Canadian Pacific Railway 4069, in working condition and in use at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park; see West Coast Railway Association.
• 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 (was non-operational when acquired but reportedly restored by volunteers to operable condition) in Cresco, Iowa.
• Milwaukee Road 104C, at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois.
• Milwaukee Road 96C, in Monon livery waiting to be restored at the Indiana Transportation Museum, Noblesville, Indiana.
• Reading 900, at the Reading Railroad Museum in Hamburg, Pa.
• 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 No. 6133, in working condition at the North Carolina Transportation Museum at Spencer, North Carolina.
• Southern Railway No. 6143, in working condition and in use at the Stone Mountain Park at Atlanta, Georgia.
• Southern Railway, two units 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.

See also

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

References

Bibliography

• Dorin, Patrick C. (1972). Chicago and North Western Power. 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.

External links

• EMD Freight Cab Units Utah Rails
• General Motors Diesel Utah Rails
• GM Export Models Utah Rails