EMD 1800 hp B-B

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Electro-Motive Corporation (later Electro-Motive Division) produced five 1800 hp B-B experimental passenger train-hauling diesel locomotives in 1935; two company-owned demonstrators, #511 and #512, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's #50, and two locomotives for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, #1 and #1A. In addition, two single power cars and two twin-unit power cars for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's Zephyr streamliners were built to fundamentally the same design, but clad in Budd Company streamlined stainless steel carbodies. These were #9904 Pegasus and #9905 Zephyrus for the Twin Zephyrs, and #9906A/B Silver King/Silver Queen and #9907A/B Silver Knight/Silver Princess for the Denver Zephyrs.

All were the mechanical ancestors to EMD's successful E-units, with identical pairs of 900 hp Winton 201-A diesel engines, although they ran on AAR type B two-axle trucks instead of the A1A trucks of E-units. When delivered, the units were fitted with shrouding around their trucks, but this did not last long.

The boxy carbodies of all but the Zephyrs were the work of GE's Erie, Pennsylvania works, EMD having not yet developed the ability to produce their own bodywork. Like most boxcabs, they had driving cabs at both ends, a feature that would only rarely be repeated in future North American locomotives, although it would become common elsewhere.

[edit] EMC demonstrators 511 and 512

EMD Demonstrators

EMD demonstrator #511 on the CB&Q in 1937. The locomotive is painted silver, having been in service on the ATSF until the E1 locomotives were ready.
Power type	Diesel-electric
Builder	Electro-Motive Corporation
Serial number	511–512
Build date	August 1935
Total production	2
Number	511–512
Official name	1800 hp B-B
Locale	North America
Disposition	Scrapped

The two EMC demonstrators, numbered 511 and 512, were built in May 1935 to demonstrate the future of passenger diesel power to potential customers. The boxy bodywork was not what EMC intended to sell, but it was an easy way to demonstrate the power units and hauling capacity, which would not be changed in the future E-units.

They were demonstrated both together and singly; the latter for shorter trains for local and less busy services, the former to replace larger steam locomotives on busy trains.

EMC #511 was loaned to the Santa Fe to be a backup to ATSF 1 and 1A during the first year of the Super Chief's operation as ATSF #1B, painted in silver. EMC #512, also painted silver, was given the designation ATSF #1C and pressed into service for the first regular run of the Super Chief-2 on May 18, 1937 to replace an ailing Unit #1.

In 1938, having outlived their usefulness, they were scrapped. The trucks and some other components were re-used for the two NW4 switchers built for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

[edit] Baltimore & Ohio 50

Baltimore & Ohio #50

B&O #50 with shovelnose front at Chicago, Illinois.
Power type	Diesel-elecric
Builder	Electro-Motive Corporation
Serial number	532
Build date	August 1935
Total production	1
Career	Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Chicago and Alton Railroad Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
Number	B&O 50 C&A 50 GM&O 1200
Official name	1800 hp B-B
Locale	North America
Current owner	Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, Missouri
Disposition	Museum artifact

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad #50 was fundamentally identical to demonstrators 511 and 512 when delivered. In this form, it hauled the first diesel-powered Royal Blue until the introduction of the EA/EB units in 1937.

Following that, it had a semi-streamlined "shovel nose" applied to one end, as shown in the picture, and transferred to the B&O-owned Chicago and Alton Railroad to haul the Abraham Lincoln. When the Alton left B&O control in the merger that created the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad, #50 entered the GM&O roster as #1200. After the Second World War, the shovel-nose treatment was removed, restoring the unit to its prior boxcab appearance. The locomotive was placed into local freight service until it was retired, upon which it was donated to the Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, Missouri, where it remains.

[edit] Santa Fe 1 and 1A

AT&SF 1

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway #1 and #1A diesel locomotives, photographed at Los Angeles, California, 21 May 1936 by Otto Perry.
Power type	Diesel-electric
Builder	Electro-Motive Corporation
Serial number	535–536
Build date	September 1935
Total production	2
Career	Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Number	1 and 1A
Official name	1800 hp B-B
Nicknames	Amos and Andy
Locale	North America
Scrapped	1952

ATSF #10, formerly #1A, in 1939 after being rebuilt. The unit was also repainted in Santa Fe's classic Warbonnet colors.

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway #1 and #1A were built in late 1935 to haul the Santa Fe's new train, the Super Chief, for its first year of operation, from May 1936 until May of the following year. The Santa Fe had wanted the new, streamlined designs on the EMC drawing boards that would become the first E-units, but they would not be ready until 1937, so the railroad asked for two locomotives like the EMC demonstrators as proof of concept, letting the railroad gain some experience with diesel operation before the E-units and the lightweight, streamlined train they would haul were ready. Because they were always run together, in a back-to-back configuration, Santa Fe employees nicknamed the two units the "One Spot Twins" and "Amos & Andy" (after the popular radio situation comedy).

The Santa Fe did ask for some cosmetic "dressing up" of the locomotives, since they would be hauling a prestige passenger train, and EMC obliged with a treatment by Sterling McDonald's GM styling department, which included large "eyebrow" air intakes at the front of the units and a striking paint scheme: Olive Green with Cobalt Blue and Sarasota Blue stripes separated by pinstripes of Crimson and Tuscan Red. This livery reduced the boxiness of the locomotives and gave them more of a look of speed. Later, as the Santa Fe got closer to their eventual diesel livery, the locomotives were repainted in silver.

The Santa Fe was an ideal railroad to be a dieselization pioneer; its long desert runs in the Southwest made the provision of water supplies for steam locomotives problematic.

After the E1s were delivered and new lightweight equipment replaced the proof-of-concept #1 and #1A and heavyweight passenger cars in 1937, the Santa Fe began to modify the two locomotive units.

Locomotive #1 remained in passenger service. It was rebuilt as a single-ended locomotive in 1938 with a "bulldog" front end—a very high, raised cab above a snub rounded nose. The locomotive emerged in the Warbonnet paint scheme similar to the E2s. The lead truck was replaced for a drop-equalizer truck of unusual 1B configuration; the lead axle was unpowered, while the two rear axles were powered. A few years later, the trailing truck was replaced in similar fashion. Three-axle trucks rode better at speed and were lighter on the track, with a lower axle loading.

Locomotive #1A was first rebuilt into a cabless booster B unit in 1937, working with the original, unmodified #1. When #1 was rebuilt in 1938, #1A was rebuilt in the same fashion, and renumbered as #10, since it was now regarded as a separate locomotive. Later, it was rebuilt again, becoming a local freight locomotive running on EMD Blomberg B freight trucks, renumbered as #2611.

Both locomotives were scrapped in 1952.

[edit] References

• Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, WI. ISBN 0-89024-026-4. 
• Repp, Stan (1980). Super Chief: Train of the Stars. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. ISBN 0-87095-081-9. 

[edit] External links

• Division Point, Inc. — color photographs of HO scale model of AT&SF #1 [1] [2].