EMD E Unit Builder Photos--Updated 1/23

OK, next favorite diesels. F units still best!!!!

Not quite a "new" builders photo, but it was taken at EMD Lagrange. This was originally built as Amtrak 609, but then used by EMD for testing after being traded in.

I'm not sure if this will work. If not, here's the link to my Flickr pic.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/...et-72157632502256850

 

It is certainly NOT an "E" unit either!

Sam, how about starting an EMD builders photo thread for EMD Demonstrators.

 

When I attended the GM EMD "The Diesel That Did It" 50th Anniversary for the FT model at the La Grange plant in 1989, EMD had quite a few Demonstrator models on display as well.  Made for some great pictures which I have yet to find since moving.

 

 

Rusty

That was the plant switcher. NOT a "demonstrator".

As much as I like the look of the "modern" E unit in

it's latest incarnation, I've always wondered why EMD

eliminated the slant /shovel nose design in favor for

the F unit bulldog nose.

 

Was it cheaper?  Safer (better visibility / impact)?

Or did the look simply become obsolete?

 

/Mitch

 

Hmm - can you imagine a sloped nose F?

 

 

 

 

Very simple Mitch, the railroads couldn't couple the older "slant nose" EA, E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, and E6 units nose to nose, plus, that "slant nose" was MUCH more difficult to manufacture when compared to the "F" type "Bull Dog" nose configuration.

I'd like to see an EMD Demonstrator photo thread, even if the locomotive pictured above is not one, as Hot Water notes.  The blue and white color of the locomotive above is very similar to the road diesels I took pictures of that day in La Grange.  I feel worse that the photos of FT 103 are also MIA.  I'm still unpacking train items and tons of photographs so I'm optimistic they'll turn up.

 

EDIT:  It's possible that the locomotives I photographed at the Anniversary event were not demonstrators but locomotives, like the blue/white one above, that were simply immaculate in appearance.

 

Why not?  They had couplers as seen in the photo above and this photo below.  Were they not designed or able to be modified for pulling heavy loads?  Or did the slant of the pilot under the coupler prohibit coupling to other similar engines (but not other engines or cars)?

 

The slant nose made passage from one unit to another in nose to nose configuration dangerous.

 

The same problem proved true with the Lowry designed slant nose subway cars he designed for NYC subways in the 60's. People could get injured moving from car to car Because the side slant away on both sides with a huge opening. Shortly after those subways cars went into service they had big modifications done that really distorted thier "look" to compensate for this problem.

 

I believe the restored c&nw geep that attended that emd fuction was a former demonstrator. Not in the demonstrator paint scheme but it was a demonstrator.

I love the E-units....in a way, they are in my mind an F-unit on steroids!

 

Nice pictures...

 

Alan

Actually only the E4 had a nose door.  That's what made it an E4.  Built for the Seaboard Air Line only, the door could be cranked out to allow for passage.

 

Rusty

Here's an EMD E, on EMD property, and owned by EMD. Not a builder photo though.

 

Another shot, same unit, same property.

Actually that was a trade-in unit from the RF&P and was used for decads as a stationary power source at the east side of the main Erecting Building. 

Rusty, thanks for the photos and explanation of the E4.

 

Sam, thanks for the photos of the E unit at EMD.

Hot Water,

 

I had read in old issues of Extra 2200 South that RF&P took such great care of their E's that it was easy for EMD to keep this one when it was traded in. Since you mention that EMD used this as a power source, did EMD have a power plant for their plant? Maybe a steam plant? For a plant that big I guess it would make sense. Also, I have this picture below that shows the EMD switcher shuffling around hopper cars. These are Clinchfield and SCL hoppers, which to me would mean coal country, plus what else would EMD be doing with hopper cars?

 

Safety. In collisions, things tended to travel up the slanted nose more so than the later more vertical version.

 

Simon

That would not have been of great concern back in the late 1930s. The main concerns would have been:

 

1) Ease, and standardization, of manufacture.

 

2) The ability to couple units A to A easily. Plus, still have nose doors for crew pass-through.

Could we get the thread back on topic:  Builder photos of E units.   

To show I wasn't out of my mind earlier referring to other "demonstrators" at the 50th Anniversary of the FT model in La Grange back in 1989, check this series of photos from the event and notice the pristine EMD locomotives in different models.  It was to these pristine diesels that I was referring:

 

http://flbtrain.smugmug.com/Ra...h-Birthday/i-ts7Hsgk

 

My bad for referring to these pristine locomotives available for up close viewing as "demonstrators" without confirming those facts.  And yes, I know, none of the photos in the link include any E units.   

Here's some more from the far off Land of Google:

 

 

Plus, the end of the shovel.

 

Rusty

Rusty and Bob, you guys are great!  Thanks for the additional photos.

 

EMD painted pictures of the new units and some of those paintings became postcards.  Here's the NYC:

 

 

Bob, right, again.  The pic I posted was from the net.  I actually have six of the specification cards; all but two are framed together with their backs exposed when the frame's rear is viewed.

Great finds, Bob.  Thanks for posting.

Bob, thanks for continuing to post these terrific E unit photos. 

 

As a Christmas gift to myself, I bought Jeff Wilson's book on E units.  If it's anywhere near as good as his F unit book, it will be a treat.

 

Thanks, again, for the photos.

 

Bob, I found the book, Jeff Wilson's E Units:  Electro-Motive's Classic Streamliners, to be exactly what I wanted:  1) where did the E units come from; and, 2) how to distinguish the various models as an interested hobbyist.  It was also interesting to see the line drawings showing the length of the E units and compare them to F unit information supplied in his book, F Units:  The Diesels That Did It.  Having had the F Unit book for many years, the E Unit book met my expectations.  Now, if color photos had been used, both books would be killer--so we suffice with B&W photos.

 

And as a neophyte diesel spotter, the Carl Malden proboscis is a dead giveaway that this is an E2.

I would take one of these in O gauge. 

This is an EMD 1948 photo of E7's destined for the Golden State train jointly operated by Southern Pacific and Rock Island.  They worked briefly on the SP's Shasta Daylight because the GS passenger cars were not yet ready.