GM built a demonstrator E7, but it was less to demonstrate the E7 itself than to show off the Train of Tomorrow. Of course, by stimulating interest in riding passenger trains, GM hoped to stimulate sales of its locomotives, but it didn’t build the demonstrator E7 until April 1947, more than two years after it delivered its first E7 to the Alton Route.

GM built an E7 locomotive specifically to take the Train of Tomorrow on a tour of the nation. Click image to download a 3.5-MB PDF of a press packet about the train. Click here for a larger view of the above photo. Source: Palumbo.

GM President Harlow Curtice described the Train of Tomorrow as a concept train the same way the company built concept cars. Although the four cars of the train were built by Pullman, GM styling went through its usual process of model building before having the train itself built. Greg Palumbo provided me with some photos of some of these models that differ from the final train in several ways. 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →