The E7 proved to be the most popular E unit General Motors produced, though only by a small margin. GM made 510 E7s, 496 E8s, and 344 of all other Es combined.
This card is signed “Harry” meaning Harry Bockewitz.
Central of Georgia bought ten E units, numbered 801 through 810. Deliveries began in August 1946. Continue reading
Although the war was still raging in early 1945, General Motors had made enough minor improvements to the Diesel engines that powered its locomotives to justify advertising a successor to the E6. The E7 differed from the E6 more on the outside than on the inside as the “bulldog” nose used on the FT replaced the more elegant slant nose used on the E3 through E6. This was probably because GM was geared up to make FT noses while it hadn’t made an E6 nose since 1942. Despite different noses, the E7 was exactly the same length as the E6: 71’1-1/4″.
This card is signed Ben Dedek.
The first E7 to come off the production line was Alton 101, which was delivered in March 1945 along with five others. Alton bought a seventh E7 numbered 100, but it was not built until 1946. Continue reading
General Motors sold a total of 1,096 FT units. This success was partially because so many railroads quickly accepted the revolutionary advantages of Diesels. But it was also partly because the war prevented GM from innovating, which would have led to F2 and F3 locomotives much earlier in the decade.
This card is unsigned but is probably by Ben Dedek.
Here’s another data card showing a three-unit FT. Lackawanna apparently ordered four FTs with three units and two with four units. The three-unit versions were delivered in April 1945. Continue reading
While an abundance of coal or a faith in future innovations in steam technology may explain why railroads like Norfolk & Western and Union Pacific didn’t buy FTs, neither reason explains one big non-buyer: Southern Pacific. SP had a lot of steam locomotives but its main innovations were using oil rather than coal and cab-forward locomotives for tunnel districts, both of which were a part of Diesels. SP also had the same water problems as the Santa Fe across many of its routes. So it seems peculiar that it continued to rely on steam locomotives rather than buy Diesels.
The signature on this card is difficult to read but it is probably Ben Dedek.
Missouri Pacific bought six four-unit FTs, starting with number 501. This one, 503, was probably delivered the same month as 501, meaning October 1944. There is a scribble in the ballast on the left side of the card that is too short to read H.U. Bockewitz so probably is B. Dedek. Continue reading
If 22 railroads bought FT locomotives, which ones didn’t? The main ones were coal haulers, such as C&O and N&W, and other railroads with innovative steam programs, such as Pennsylvania and Union Pacific. These railroads thought they could make steam as efficient as Diesels and so didn’t jump on the General Motors bandwagon until after World War II.
This card is signed B. Dedek and appears to be dated October 38, 1943, six months before the locomotive was delivered.
Rock Island ordered 20 A units and 16 B units. Although they were numbered in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, they seemed to have been delivered in reverse order, with the high 90s showing up in April 1944, the 80s and low 90s later in 1944, and the 70s in 1945. Thus, number 99 shown in this painting may have been the first one delivered. Continue reading
Great Northern was actually the second railroad (after Santa Fe) to receive a new FT locomotive, number 5700, which was delivered in May 1941. There doesn’t seem to be a data card for that locomotive but here is a painting of it by Paul Meyer from a GM poster. Note that it is dated January 2, 1941, several months before delivery.
Click image for a larger view.
Great Northern ended up buying 51 A units and 45 B units, which means some of its semi-permanently coupled locomotives had only three units instead of four. GM issued a data card for number 400, which was delivered in December 1943. Continue reading
World War II slowed production of Diesel locomotives. GM was allowed to keep producing them provided it didn’t interfere with its production of Diesel engines for the Navy. However, it wasn’t allowed to design new locomotives, so the FT remained in production until the end of 1945. As with the E6, close examination suggests that GM artists used at least four foundation drawings for the FT, two facing right and two left.
There is no signature on this painting but my guess it that it is by Harry Bockewitz.
Like its partner Western Pacific, Rio Grande purchased twelve four-unit FT locomotives. It received the first one, the one shown in this painting, in January 1942. Continue reading
General Motors’ FT is one of the most momentous locomotives in history as it convinced all but a few die-hards in the railroad industry that Diesels would replace steam locomotion. The first four-unit FT was completed in late 1939 and then went on an 11-month tour of the nation demonstrating the locomotive’s capabilities against the best steam engines the railroads had to offer. The tour persuaded 22 railroads to buy FTs. Greg Palumbo provided me with data cards for all of them, which I’ll be presenting today and over the following five days.
There is no signature on this painting but it appears to be the work of Harry Bockewitz.
After the tour, General Motors reconditioned the demonstrator and sold it to the Southern Railway, which took delivery in May or July 1941 (accounts differ). So while Southern wasn’t the first buyer of an FT, it bought the first one made. One unit, numbered 6100 in this painting but originally GM demonstrator 103, survives and has been restored to its original GM colors and is in a museum in St. Louis. Continue reading
I previously noted that GM artists first made a “foundation drawing” of each class of locomotive and then painted color schemes over that drawing. However, it is apparent from the data cards presented yesterday that multiple foundation drawings were made of the E6. The last three cards today appear to be based on the same foundation as the first card yesterday. The second and fourth cards yesterday appear to have the same foundations, while yesterday’s last card and today’s first appear to be unique, perhaps because they were painted before the style department became more systematic.
There is no signature on this painting but it appears to be the work of Harry Bockewitz.
Southern bought seven E6 A units and four B units. The sweeping curves and differences between the A and B units make me suspect this paint scheme was devised by Leland Knickerbocker, but I have no evidence that it was so. The locomotive was delivered in April 1941. Continue reading
Fourteen railroads bought a total of 117 E6 locomotives, and Palumbo provided nine data cards, two of which were from the same railroad. I’ll present about half today and half tomorrow and do so in the approximate order in which the locomotives on the cards were manufactured.
This painting by Harry Bockewitz is clearly dated 1944.
This locomotive with the odd number of 7-M-1 was delivered in August 1940 and initially used in UP’s Kansas City-Denver corridor. It was later renumbered 953A (and the locomotive behind it, 7-M-2, was renumbered 954A). Continue reading
