I’ve shown several paintings by GM Art & Color artist Paul A. Meyer. Here are three more.

Click image for a larger view. Click here to download a 5.8-MB PDF with all three paintings in high-resolution format. The size of the images in this PDF is based on the resolution of the original images, not the actual size of the paintings in inches. Source: Soulis.

This shows a generic FT locomotive. The stripes are shaped identically to those of the FT demonstrator, 103, but are orange instead of yellow as they were on the actual demonstrator. The painting is dated 12-30-40, which is after the demonstration tour was completed. This may have been a proposal to repaint the demonstrator for a railroad that would buy it or to paint another FT locomotive. Continue reading →

GM introduced the F9 in 1953 and the E9 in 1954. Both saw a power boost over their predecessors, the F9 from 1,500 to 1,750 horsepower and the E9 from 2,250 to 2,500 horsepower. Three F9s were about equal to four FTs while one F9 was about equal to one E1 or E2 even though the Es came with two engines while the Fs had only one.

This card shows Canadian Pacific FP7 1417, which was built in February 1952.

Unfortunately for those who love streamliners, the streamlined look was on its way out. The utility provided by a 1,750-hp GP9, including better visibility for the cab crew and walkways for switch crews, led railroads to buy 17 GP9s for every F9. Meanwhile, passenger service was declining, so GM sold less than a third as many E9s as it had E8s. Continue reading →

The E8 locomotive succeeded the E7 in late 1949. Though the “E” in E locomotives represented eighteen, for the 1,800 horsepower of the E1 and E2, the E3 through E7 produced 2,000 horsepower and the E8 upped this to 2,250. The later E9 would produce 2,400.

This card is signed by Ben Dedek.

The first E8 was demonstrator 952, built in August 1949. After the usual tour, General Motors sold it to Rock Island, which renumbered it 643. Rock Island bought 11 more E8s and had an E6 rebuilt into an E8. Continue reading →

According to Wikipedia, GM began producing F7s in February 1949. The F3 and F7 were both rated at 1,500 horsepower, and while Wikipedia says the F7 had 20 percent higher tractive effort than the F3, that doesn’t show up on the data cards. Despite yesterday’s question about buyer’s remorse, I suspect railroads just bought the latest locomotives available without worrying too much about the designations. However, instead of stepping up from F3 to F4, F5, F6, and F7, GM leapt from F3 to F7. This was mainly because the E locomotive being made in early 1949 was an E7.

This card is signed by Ben Dedek.

F7 production may have begun in February 1949, and according to a Clinchfield history site, locomotive 800 was an F3 built in 1948. Yet this card clearly says it was an F7. However, the history site adds that the locomotive was later rebuilt to F7 standards, so perhaps that’s when this card was made. Continue reading →

By 1949, railroads had bought so many F3s that Trains magazine editor David P. Morgan suggested that railroaders then were “the age of the F3.” He didn’t know that the F7, which would be introduced in 1949, would greatly outsell the F3.

This card is signed by Ben Dedek.

Rather than buy any FT locomotives, Pennsylvania experimented with with turbine-powered locomotives, duplex drives, and other steam innovations. When these had little or no success, PRR jumped on the Diesel bandwagon, buying 120 F3s, more than any other railroad except Union Pacific and Southern Pacific (which also hadn’t bought any FTs). The first four-unit set, numbered 9500-9503, was delivered in July 1947, while the four-unit set shown in the painting was delivered two months later.

I don’t see a signature but this looks like Ben Dedek’s work.

In October 1947 Bangor and Aroostook received the first of its F3s. The railroad ordered four three-unit A-B-A sets.

Ben Dedek’s signature is barely discernible in the lower left corner of the painting on this card.

GM delivered six three-unit F3s to Chicago Great Western in October 1947. Later, CGW purchased six more B units to make them into four-unit sets. In all, it owned 33 A units and 16 B units, including one three-unit set used for passenger service.

No signature is visible on this card.

In October 1947, the Soo Line received the first of five two-unit sets of F3s. Its then-subsidiary Wisconsin Central also bought three three-unit sets.

This poster version of the same painting shows Ben Dedek’s signature in the lower left corner. Dedek was careless to have placed the signature where it would have been cropped out from the data card. Click image for a larger view.

This poster shows more of the painting on which the data card was based. “Poster” is the term used by Greg Palumbo for framable prints of the paintings. I’m not exactly sure how big they are, but they are bigger than the data cards while smaller than the original paintings. Because they are taller (relative to the width) than the data cards they show some features that are cropped out of the cards, such as, this case, the artist’s signature.

This card is signed by Ben Dedek.

Unlike some of the paintings, this one makes clear how Canadian National numbered each of the locomotives in this three-unit set. Rather than number them 9000 A, B, and C, it numbered them 9000, 9001, and 9002. CN only bought two three-unit F3s and they were delivered in May 1948.

This card is signed by Ben Dedek.

The individual units Canadian National subsidiary Grand Trunk Western’s F3 are also separately numbered on this card. The railroad bought eleven two-unit sets whose numbers immediately followed those of CN’s three-unit sets. The first five sets were delivered in May 1948, and the remainder in September 1948.