NEB&W Overview Of Diesel Locomotives

Last Update: 2008-11-11

Locos Table of Contents
Rolling Stock Table of Contents

Diesel modeling, and therefore, diesel recognition, is a very sophisticated aspect of the hobby. There is even a Kalmbach book devoted to just the nuances of diesel spotting (even though they don't have a corresponding book on freight cars). As with freight cars, I expect you to go to a more direct source for information about your road's diesels. Even I know about first generation D&H and Rutland diesels, at least to the point of knowing them by diesel nomenclature.

However, as with foreign road rolling stock, it becomes difficult to know what is appropriate for what era. For instance, the New York Central had GP7's, and since we model Troy, would it be appropriate to have a GP7 show up in the 1950-53 era? By this, I mean, when was the GP7 produced? Of course, there are other questions, such as when did the Central get their GP7's? And were they limited to, say, the Pittsburgh area, and would not have shown up in Troy.

An extreme example would be the Central's electrics. Knowing the era when they were acquired is meaningless as it wouldn't take a doctorate in locomotivology to know they would be out of place in Troy, since there is no evidence of a third, electrified, rail, or overhead wires. The other extreme is represented by the Niagara's - certainly these 4-8-4's are "steam-era", and we know they ran on the mainline through Albany. If Troy's sharp curved wye, or the tight clearance on the Congress Street tunnel were prohibitive, Niagaras might have gotten achingly close to Troy but no cigar. While Jack Waite specifically remembers seeing Niagaras (as opposed to elephant-eared look-alike Mohawks) in Troy, we have yet to see photographic evidence.

If you overlook such a nuance as the Niagara question, you are likely to be forgiven by your fellow modelers, and more important, by yourself. If you have an SD40 running on your 1940 layout (isn't that what the "40" stands for in the model designation?), you will get a big laugh. Nobody will be able to concentrate on the precise and painstaking detail on the rest of the layout.

The purpose of this chapter is to give a quick reference as to the era and relative appropriateness of diesel models. Then if you see a model in question meets the basic criteria, and doesn't get ruled out at first base, you can spend more energy looking further, if desired. Also, some of you might be beginners, so I hope this will quickly bring you up to speed. Finally, I will reference other sources for more information, so this chapter will eventually mark the beginning of the paper trail.

Motive power, particularly diesels, are NOT my forte or interest. This page is pretty basic. Feel free to send me any MAJOR corrections, but I am not going to clutter this with a lot of the subtle nuances.

There was a supplement to the January '79 Railroad Model Craftsman, which gave "Rail-dates". It was compiled by Charles Buccola, assisted by Ed Crist, Jim Panza, and Bill Schaumburg. I will refer to it as RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates". This source said that the sealed beam headlight was introduced in '46.

In 1958, EMD introduced their SD24, which is considered the first "second-generation" power.

Alco

The name is short for American Locomotive Co. "P" in the model designation was for passenger, "RS", road switcher, and "S" for switcher. (Do not confuse with "SW" of EMD nomenclature. In 1969, Alco ended diesel production.

FA-1

According to Atlas's ad for their N scale model, there were almost 400 units built between January '46 and June '50, which were used on some two dozen major roads. They had a horse-power rating of 1,500.

FA-2

According to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates", this was introduced in 1950.

PA-1

According to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates", this was introduced in '46.

RS-1

The RS-1 was the first road switcher, introduced in 1940 according to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates". I believe that basically the S-2 was lengthened and a toilet added to the short hood, so the engine could go out on the line. The horsepower (1,000) was the same.

RS-2

This was introduced in 1946, according to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates".

RS-3

In a review of the Keystone O scale model in the June '78 RMC, the 1,600 horsepower RS-3 was produced between 1950 and 1956, with some 1,500 units made. It was superseded by the RS-11 in '56.
According to Tony Koester (April '78 RMC), originally the exhaust stack was originally positioned lengthwise, and off to one side. This represented an air-cooled turbocharger, which didn't work too well, so shortly thereafter, they went to a water-cooled turbocharger. This resulted in the exhaust stack being centered and rotated 90 degrees, so it was crosswise. Most of the older units were retrofitted.

RS-11

According to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates", this was introduced in 1956.

S-1

According to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates", this was introduced in 1940.

S-2

According to the review of the Atlas S-2 in the Nov. '86 MR, this was introduced in 1940 and sold 1,502 units before the end of production in 1950, thereby making it Alco's most popular diesel of all time. It had a horsepower rating of 1,000.

Atlas

styrene ready-to-run

Baldwin

Baldwin was a longtime steam loco builder. They were unsuccessful in making the transition to diesel, particularly the idea of mass production. Their model designations rarely meant a standardized product. Baldwin merged with Lima-Hamilton in 1950, and went out of business in 1956, so any Baldwin engine must date from before that.

S-12

This was introduced in 1951, according to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates".

Budd

They had been making passenger cars, and introduced the RDC (Rail Diesel Car) in 1949, according to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates".

EMD

EMD is the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. It had started as a separate company, EMC. "E" in the model designation meant a passenger unit, "F", freight, "GP", a general purpose engine (referred to as a "jeep" for the same reason the WWII auto/truck was), "SW", switcher. (However, in the August '75 MR "Paint Shop", Jim Hediger said the "S" originally stood for "Six" as in 600 h.p. and the "N" for 900 h.p. The "W" stood for "welded" for the frame and there was also an NC unit, with the "C" standing for "cast" frame.)

I'm not sure what "SD" stood for (special duty, super-duper?) but these seem to mean 6-wheel trucks ("S" for "Six"?).

EMC got their start in 1933, building the engines for the Burlington Zephyr. In '39, they introduced the SW1, NW1, FT and F3.

The number often stood for horsepower, in hundreds, at least up until the GP30 (I think) which did not have 3,000 horsepower. As the trend was to make ever more powerful engines, one can assume that low-numbered models were produced before higher number ones.

The year 1954 saw major model changes. The GP9 replaced the 7. The F9 replaced the 7.

BL2

According to the article in the November '89 RMJ, the 1,500 horsepower BL2 was EMD's answer to the Alco RS road switcher series, prior to the GP7. It was produced from April 1948 to May '49. Fifty-eight freight versions were built for the BAR, C&O, C&EI, FEC, Monon, MP, and WM. The B&M, C&O, and Rock Island were the only ones to order the passenger version. The steam generator exhaust ran up the center of the windshield.

Life-Like

E3

According to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates", this was introduced in 1939.

E7

The E7 was introduced in 1945, according to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates".

E8

According to the May '93 RMJ, the E8 was produced from August 1949 through December '53, when it was replaced by the E9 which sold through December '63. The only visual difference was the E8-A had a painted metal rim around the headlight, while the E9-A had an exposed rubber gasket. There were 421 E8-A's produced, 39 E8-B's, 100 E9-A's, and 44 E9-B's.

Rivarossi/IHC, Con-Cor have E8's.

FT

According to the article in the April '75 MR, this was introduced in 1939. These had a horsepower rating of 1,350. They differed most notably from later F units in the truck spacing, particularly in the B unit, which was far inboard. The A and B units were semi-permanently coupled, although in some cases, the engines were used in an A-B-A semi-permanent affair, and later some A's were equipped with a regular coupler when resold to shortlines. Another feature was the four portholes on the side.

AHM

F3

According to an article (with plans) in the Oct. '70 MR, the F3 was introduced in Sept. '46 There were a total of 980 A units and 593 B units sold before being superseded in January '49. They had a horsepower rating of 1,500.

F7

The F7 was introduced in 1949, according to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates".

GP7

The GP7 followed the short-lived BL2 in 1949. According to the review of the Lionel GP7 in the Sept. '75 MR, there were 2,610 of these units sold. They had 1500 h.p.

Lionel

plastic ready-to-run

GP9

According to the '97 Walthers catalog, this was introduced in 1954, with total sales of 3,800 in the U.S. and Canada. The designation "M" meant modified, which refers to having a low nose. (Keith Thompson, Nov. '89 MM, put the total at 4,200 engines, but perhaps he is including both low and high nose versions.)
According to the Atlas N scale review in the Feb. '75 MR, the GP7, 9 and 18 are very similar, and contrary to popular opinion at the time, the presence of dynamic brake blisters was not a distinguishing feature.

GP18

According to the Sept. '79 RMC, the AHM GP18 "follows the lines" of the prototype, and had the correct hood width. The GP18 was produced between 1959 and '63, and was rated at 1,800 horsepower. This was among the last designs to have the steam-loco type rounded cab roof.
The last GP9's had a large fan at each end of the hood, but basically this was the major difference between the 9 and the 18. The 18 had a bar-type grille over the air inlets, while the 7's and 9's had "chicken wire" grilles.

NW1

According to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates", this was introduced in 1939.

SD7

This was introduced in 1952, according to Keith Thompson's article in the Nov. '89 Mainline Modeler. They sold 188 units until it was replaced by the SD9 in 1954. The SD7 had 1,500 h.p.

SD9

According to Keith Thompson (Nov. '89 MM), this was introduced in January '54, and had 1,750 h.p. It was produced over the next five years, selling 469 units, the most popular 6-axle diesel at the time.

SW1

According to the '97 Walthers catalog, the prototype model was introduced in 1939.

Walthers

styrene ready-to-run

SW7

This was introduced in 1949, according to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates".

Fairbanks-Morse

According to the RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates", F-M entered the loco market in 1944. The last F-M engines were built in '63, and these were exported to Mexico.

H10/12-44

According to the '97 Walthers catalog, these were introduced in '44 (hence the "44"?), as 1,000 h.p. switchers, and later upgraded to 1,200, thus the "10" and "12".

Walthers

styrene ready-to-run

General Electric

They got their start in Schenectady, NY as a company to make electrical components, including light bulbs prior to 1900. This got them into the generator/motor end of things. At first they teamed up with Alco, who had been building steam locos also in Schenectady, but when GE struck off on their own (1958?) Alco really was crippled and ceased production 10 years later.

44-Tonner

The ICC at some point mandated a two-man crew on locos over a certain weight. The 44-tonner was just light enough to get under this. The engine was introduced in 1940, according to RMC's Jan. '79 "Rail-dates".