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EMD FP7

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EMD FP7
File:SSW FP7 306.jpg
SSW ("Cotton Belt") #306 at St. Louis, Missouri, 1953
Type and origin
Power typeDiesel-electric
BuilderGeneral Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
General Motors Diesel (GMD, Canada)
ModelFP7
Build dateJune 1949 – December 1953
Total produced378
Specifications
Configuration:
 • AARB-B
Gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
Length54 ft 8 in (16.66 m)
Prime moverEMD 567
CylindersV16
Performance figures
Power output1,500 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 however, came when EMD recognized the problem and added the stretched, custom-built FP7 to its catalog.

A total of 378 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.

It is important to note that 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
Atlanta and West Point Railroad 4
Atlantic Coast Line 44
Alaska Railroad 3
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad 10
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway 16
Chicago Great Western Railway 2
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad 10
Clinchfield Railroad 1
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México 16
Ferrocarril Sonora-Baja California 2
Florida East Coast Railway 5
Georgia Railroad 3
Louisville and Nashville Railroad 45
Milwaukee Road 32
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad 8
Northern Pacific Railway 2
Pennsylvania Railroad 40
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad 3
Reading Railroad 8
Saudi Oil 2
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway 12
Soo Line Railroad 8 (including both demonstrators)
Southern Railway 20
Southern Pacific Railroad 16
St. Louis Southwestern Railway 1
Union Pacific Railroad 2
Western Railway of Alabama 2
Western Pacific Railroad 4

Locomotives built by GMD at London, Ontario

Railroad Quantity
Canadian Pacific Railway 35
Ontario Northland Railway 22
File:PRR FP7 9840.jpg
Pennsylvania Railroad FP7 (PRR class EFP-15) #9840. The barrel-like extra tank under the locomotive can be seen.

Preserved examples

References

  • EMD's FP7 - Original Owners. Retrieved on January 4, 2005.
  • Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, WI. ISBN 0-89024-026-4.