Just a few notes to start. The F2 productions totals on pages 25 and 49 don’t agree.
However the main generator cited as being used in the F2 on pages 28 and 49 do agree that it was the D4. And both those pages are wrong as it was the D8 generator that was carried over from FT production to the F2.
The D&RGW totals for F7s includes 2 A units and 2 B units built in November 1948. Were those the first F7s or were they F5s? The date at the top of the column states F7 production started in February 1949.
My research has found three additional FP7s. See Number Built on this page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:EMD_FP7 Both C&EI 1609 and CGW 116C were wrecked in 1951 and rebuilt on new frames. The other extra unit is NdeM 6309 EMD Serial #11011. Andre Kristopans EMD serial number pages are now on Don Stracks Utah Rails.
There were 90 FP9s. The four missing from the table on page 33 are Saudi units. The Saudi Government Railways #1502-1508 were FP9s.
Thanks for the data
One of the details missing from the articles was when the changeover from manual to automatic transition occurred.
OTOH, after reading about all the things that got changed from the FT to the F3, I now know why the FT’s were almost gone in the arly 60’s and were extinct by 1970 (with the exception of two of the demonstrator units).
EMD sold a kit (I designed it in the summer of 1952) to convert FTs to automatic transition. It was first applied to B&O’s FTs. I don’t know which other railroads bought it.
The F9A count is off a bit. And mostly because of the demonstrator and wrecks. Add F9A demonstrator #975 to the Northern Pacific column. This F9 demonstrator was built in February 1953. Colorado & Southern #700D was rebuilt to an F9 from and F7. Denver & Rio Grande #5531 and #5571 were rebuilt to F9s from an F3 and an F7 respectively. Ft. Worth and Denver #750A was rebuilt to an F9 from an F7. Louisville and Nashville #811 was rebuilt to an F9 from an F7. Wabash #1141A was rebuilt to an F9 from an F7. And EMD Test unit #462 was rebuilt to an F9 from a C&NW F7. The B unit count is spot on.
The F2 table on page 25 shows 18 A units for B&M and 3 B units. The Jim Shaughnessy article on page 43 states B&M had 15 A units and 3 B units.
Is Thomas Dilworth related to Richard Dilworth? See page 50 and http://www.google.nl/patents/US2423929 .
Wallace Abbey’s book on the Soo Line shows WC 2200ACB (three unit F3 set delivered in December 1948) and WC2201ACB (3 unit F7 set delivered in January 1949), which had consecutive order numbers, in adjacent photo frames “for the louver counters”. It seems the change from F3 (F5?) to F7 had more to do with start of construction than anything else. Since Soo’s units lacked dynamic brakes, the roof hatch is no help in ID-ing them.
I sent a letter to the editor about this fact the day after I received my copy, but, have not had a reply. Can anyone else comment on when this change occured and the history behing it?
To add information about EMD’s transition systems would have blurred the edges of the F unit article by Preston Cook. And that’s because the transition system changes overlapped the production period of the F3 and F7 models. The transition system changes were not concurrent with the model changes. See Larry Russel’s F5 article in Extra 2200 South issue #96 for a brief glimpse of the changes.
The Cotton Belt train shown at the top of page 16 is train #7. Train #107 the Dallas section would depart from the track next to the Mt. Pleasant depot with an Alco RS-3 on the point. It would then turn at Dallas Junction, note sign to left in photo. This same photo appears in Steve Goen’s Cotton Belt Color Pictorial on page 31 with the correct information about the train. The use of the FP7 to Dallas is not documented in any Cotton Belt photo that has come to light.
The major external difference between all F3s and all F7s was the stainless steel longitudinal grill over the upper side air louvres on all F7s and not on any F3s. This also applied to the E7s, without the grill, and the E8s with.
No F7s were built with manual transition unless it was a special order by the railroad, and I don’t know of any. I also was unaware of any F3s with manual transition or E7s with manual transition. If you know of any, please state which railroad had them. I think the transition from manual to automatic occured while F2s were in production.
Other than the B&O, who else bought "my"EMD conversion kit for the FT?
Railroads could use FTs with other power, the FTs had to lead to allow manual control. This was not convenient when the B&O used FTs with F3s in helper service, where turning the “lash-up” was impractical.
The automatic transition was not used on the F2 according the EMD F2 article in Diesel Era by Calloway, Cupper and Withers. See pages 31 and 34. It was offered on the F3. This would be the EMD Type A transition applied prior to September 22, 1948.
I know that Cotton Belt FTs were modified to run with their F7s as mixed consists with F7s in the lead were common. Other railroads will be found that had these mixed F unit consists by studying photos of the time.
At least some of Soo Line’s MSSteP&M 200 series F3s had manual transition. All of WC’s 2200 (well, the three unit set 2200 A, C, B) had automatic.
But so far, no F7s with manual. Happy to learn about the F3s. Possibly one F2 was equipped with automatic as a demonstrator or test. Whether or not it lef EMD either as an F2 or with automatic transition are open questions.
Not so!!! The F3s delivered to the Reading came factory equipped with the stainless grill.
Reading 262 is a late F3 built in November 1948, sometimes called an F5. There’s a thin dime of difference between a late F3 and an early F7.