Greetings,
Wikipedia is in error when it comes to the Rock island. I have pictures of the FP-7s on passenger, freight, and a very few on commuters in Chicago. They were originally purchased in a passenger scheme.
Happy trains to you,
Bob L.
Rock Island used the extra 4’ to install belt driven train lighting generators for suburban service. Only had the ceiling mounted “Hatch” water tank which was one of their limitations for winter time main line passenger. FP7’s had to take boiler water at Bureau when it was really cold and snowy. If you had E unit(s) with you and were able to maintain steam pressure without running everything wide open one could highball the FP7 water stop at Bureau.
I’ve seen numerous pictures of at least the 405, 406 and 410 in Suburban service during 1953.
As a side note PRR used a under frame mounted water tank on their FP7’s.
Dick Haave
From a UP fan; the UP ran a rather ecclectic bunch of passenger power during the early transition to diesel power. The had E3, E6, E7 specifically for passenger, plus they bought a batch of F3s (A & B units) geared for passenger operations, and picked up a couple FP7s from a cancelled order to Mexico. They also had ALCO PAs, F-M “Erie Builts” and steam generators in the last few GP7s received. In 1950 the UP bought their first batch of EMD E8 units and found the unit they would standardize on. As more E8s (and later E9s) arrived other units were moved to branch line runs, were reassigned, or retired. One could still see odd units on secondary trains. If I remember right the pair of UP FP7s spend most of their passenger time on scondary or branch trains in the UP’s Northwest District while E-units ruled the Streamliners. UP also had a fleet of express and mail trains and bought boiler-equipped power to handle that service. In the early 1960s the UP was buying some of their GP30B’s with steam boilers and bought ten SDP35s. These were never intended for the premier trains and were intended to keep the mail and express trains rolling on time. So the use of the FP7 in freight service and/or passenger service changed over the years on the UP just as it did on other railroads.
Dick:
You are correct about the PRR mounting a water tank under the frame. It was at the very front in front of the fuel tank shaped like a barrel. It was mounted crosswise with the flat barrel ends visible on both sides. I recall that in the PC days, some still had them and some did not.
Victor A. Baird
Fort Wayne, Indiana
, ,
. ,
The C&O’s FP7s were used infrequently in passenger service. Most books indicate that the C&O saw them as freight locomotives that could be pressed into passenger service, if needed. With its sizeable fleet of E8s and E7s and a few dual-service BL2s, the C&O otherwise had a pretty good-sized stable of passenger power in the 1950s.
While delivered in the C&O’s passenger paint scheme, the vast majority of photos show the FP7s being used in freight service. One photo I’ve seen of an FP7 in passenger service has it leading a BL2 out of Louisville in 1961 on the train that connected with the C&O’s mainline passenger trains at Ashland, Kentucky.
I thought the “FP” in FP-7 and FP-9 in EMD designation meant Freight / Passenger use. Just like it did for FP-45.
The “F” in FP45 refers to the full-width body, not “Freight”.
You also had SDP40 and SDP45 units from EMD, which were standard hood type units but with a steam generator tacked on the end of the hood. (Actually, EL has some SDP45s without the steam generator option, just to get the longer frame and fuel tank.)
The “F” in EMD’s FT and F2 models also did not stand for “Freight”, but “Fourteen-hundred HP” (rounded up from 1350). Later upgrades to the F-series (F3, F7, F9) kept the letter even though it didn’t match the HP anymore. As stated above, the “P” in FP7, FP9 really referred to the extra frame/body length for larger water tanks, as standard F series units could and often did also have steam generators.
Other early EMD models:
SW - Six hundred HP, Welded frame
SC - Six hundred HP, Cast frame
NW - Nine hundred HP, Welded frame
E - Eighteen hundred HP
eventually followed by such series as:
BL - branchline
GP - general purpose
SD - special duty
(The ones we’re more familiar with today.)