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The Consolidation Line [1] was a series of diesel-electric railway locomotive designs produced by Fairbanks-Morse and its Canadian licensee, the Canadian Locomotive Company. Railfans have dubbed these locomotives C-liners, however F-M referred to the models collectively as the C-Line. [1] A combined total of 165 units (123 cab-equipped lead A units and 42 cabless booster B units) were produced by F-M and the CLC between 1950 and 1955.
Since 1932, Fairbanks-Morse had specialized in the manufacture of opposed piston diesel engines for United States Naval vessels. Not long after, the company produced a 300 hp (220 kW)5 by 6 inches (127 mm × 152 mm) engine that saw limited use in railcar applications on the B&O, Milwaukee Road, and a few other lines. Additionally, two of the 5 × 6s were placed in an experimental center cab switcher locomotive under development by the Reading Railroad (road #87, built in 1939 by the St. Louis Car Company, or SLCC, and scrapped in 1953). A 5 x 6 powered the plant switcher at F-M's Beloit, Wisconsin manufacturing facility.
In 1939, the SLCC placed F-M 800 hp (600 kW)8 by 10 inches (203 mm × 254 mm) engines in six streamlined railcars, which are known today as the FM OP800. In 1944, F-M began production of its own 1,000-horsepower (0.75 MW) yard switcher, the H-10-44. Milwaukee Road #760 (originally delivered as #1802), the first Fairbanks-Morse locomotive constructed in their own plant, is now preserved and on display at the Illinois Railway Museum. F-M had yet to produce a railroad road locomotive, or any locomotive prior to the 1944 switcher which was built several years after its conception; all other locomotive producers, except for General Motors (and a few others who manufactured small industrial locomotives), were forced by the government to continue to build reciprocating steam locomotives during much of the war. All national locomotive production was subject to strict wartime restrictions regarding the number and type of railroad-related products they could manufacture (the U.S. Government in the name of the Navy commandeered all F-M O-P production well into 1944). Following World War II, North American railways began phasing out their aging steam locomotives and sought to replace them with state-of-the-art diesel locomotives at an ever-increasing rate due to the unfavourable economics of steam propulsion. Fairbanks-Morse, along with its competing firms, sought to capitalize on this new market opportunity.
In December 1945 F-M produced its first streamlined, cab/carbody dual service diesel locomotive as direct competition to such models as the ALCO FA and PA and EMD FT and E-unit. [1] Assembly of the 2,000 horsepower (1.49 MW) unit, which was mounted on an A1A-A1A wheelset, was subcontracted out to General Electric due to lack of space at F-M's Wisconsin plant. GE built the locomotives at its Erie, Pennsylvania facility, thereby giving rise to the name “Erie-built”. F-M retained the services of renowned industrial designer Raymond Loewy to create a visually impressive carbody for the Erie-built. The line was only moderately successful, as a total of 82 cab and 28 booster units was sold through 1949, when production was ended. The Erie-Built program faced several problems, including a nine-month strike in Beloit near the start of production, the cost of outsourcing much of the Erie-Built's design and production to GE, and several high-cost components including two types of unique truck and secondary electrical and cooling systems. [1]
F-M wanted to produce a carbody successor to the Erie-Built which could be manufactured in-house, and this required a new ground-up design and expansion of the locomotive shop at Beloit. [1] Because of the design parameters laid down for the new locomotives, only the O-P engine, the traction motors, and a few accessories could be carried over from F-M's hood locomotives. [1] The resulting Consolidation Line (known in-house as the C-Line) [1] debuted in January 1950.
C-liners took many of their design cues from the Erie-builts, using a carbody that was 56 ft 3 in (17.15 m) long. This was 8 ft (2.4 m) shorter than the Erie-Built, [1] yet had room for a 12-cylinder OP engine (as opposed to the Erie-built's 10-cylinder engine) and a 4,500-lb-per-hour steam generator. The C-Line was offered with 8-cylinder 1,600 hp (1.19 MW), 10-cylinder 2,000 hp (1.49 MW), and 12-cylinder 2,400 hp (1,800 kW) versions of F-M's 38D8-1/8 opposed-piston diesel prime movers. New two-axle trucks with a distinctive curved equalizing bar were developed, which became standard in other F-M locomotives. [1]
The model designation followed the format of C (for Consolidation), F or P (Passenger or Freight), A or B (cab or cabless), two digits for horsepower, and one digit for the number of axles, so that CPA-24-5 was a 5-axle 2,400-hp passenger unit with a cab while CFB-16-4 would be a 4-axle, 1600-hp freight booster. Four-axle units used a B-B wheel arrangement, while a B-A1A wheel arrangement (three-axle rear truck with a center idler axle) was used on passenger units where the weight of the steam generator and feedwater tanks would cause the axle load to exceed 66,000 lb. [2]
The C-Line was intended to consist of seven models, with A and B (cab and cabless) versions of each: Four-axle freight units with 1600, 2000 or 2400 horsepower, four-axle passenger with the 1600-hp engine, and five-axle passenger units with all three engines. [1] However, several proposed models, including the CFA-24-4, CFB-24-4, CPB-20-5 and CPB-24-5 received no orders, and 1600-hp passenger units (in both 4- and 5-axle configurations) were only built by CLC. [2]
CPx-16-4 models had steam generators of 1,600 to 2,800 lb/hr capacity and feedwater tanks of 1,000 to 1,050 gallons, while five-axle passenger models had steam generators rated at 1,600 to 4,500 lb/hr and feedwater capacity of 1,600 to 1,800 gallons, which could be increased to 1,850 gallons on CPx-24-5 models. [2] Most C-liners were fitted out with main electrical generators manufactured by Westinghouse Electric. C-Liners were also built by CLC in Kingston, Ontario, and the last C-liners built by CLC for Canadian National Railways (CPA-16-5 #6700–6705 and CPB-16-5 #6800–6805) had General Electric equipment and lacked dynamic brakes.
Orders for the C-liners were initially received from the New York Central, followed by the Long Island Rail Road, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Milwaukee Road and the New Haven. Orders to the Canadian Locomotive Company were also forthcoming in Canada from the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railways. However, accounts of mechanical unreliability and poor technical support soon began to emerge. The Westinghouse generators in the 2,400 hp (1,800 kW) C-Line locomotives were prone to flashing over when wheelslip occurred at high speeds (such as on wet rails), [1] and the OP prime movers initially suffered from relatively poor piston life and proved difficult to maintain. Engine reliability and maintenance problems led New York Central to repower all of its 2,000 and 2,400 hp C-Line locomotives (as well as several of its Erie-Builts) with EMD 567 engines in 1955-56, when the locomotives were between 3 and 6 years old. [3] Moreover, railroads were quickly moving away from cab unit designs, and standardizing on road switcher locomotive designs, as offered by the competition in the form of the EMD GP7 or the Alco RS-3 and even the Baldwin DRS-4-4-1500.
Robert Aldag Jr., who would eventually head up F-M's locomotive division, acknowledged that while the C-Line eliminated the high production costs of the Erie-Built, it failed in the marketplace due to its late entry, which he estimated was five years too late to take advantage of the sales boom due to dieselization in the US. [1]
By 1952, orders had dried up in the United States, with a total production run of only 99 units. The units proved relatively more popular in Canada, particularly with the CPR, and orders continued there until 1955. Several variants were only ever produced by the Canadian Locomotive Company, and Canadian roads accepted a total of 66 units. However, Westinghouse had announced in 1953 that it was leaving the locomotive equipment market, in part because of the generator reliability issues in the F-M units. This development made continuing production of the C-liners impractical without a redesign, and since marketplace acceptance was already marginal, the decision was made to end production.
With the Train Master series, F-M continued production of their own road-switcher designs, but these also ultimately proved unsuccessful in the marketplace and Fairbanks-Morse departed the locomotive market.
Louis Marx and Company produced a mid-1950s tinplate line of Fairbanks Morse styled 0 gauge engines. The Monon #81 came first, in 1955–59; the Seaboard #4000 came in 1955–1962 came; and the classic Kansas City Southern #54 came in 1955–60. Tin lithographed production continued into the early 1960s. [4]
Life-Like (and later Walthers) produced plastic A- and B-unit models of the four-axle freight C-Line locomotives in HO scale (Proto 1000 series) and N scale (Proto series). Because the C-Line units had identical car bodies, these models are correct for CFA-16-4, CFB-16-4, CFA-20-4 and CFB-20-4 locomotives. They are no longer in production.
Tru-Line Trains made 4- and 5-axle C-Liners in HO and N scale. The site announced that they were returning to production, but no date was given. [5] On August 24, 2020, Atlas announced that they had acquired some Tru-Line Trains molds including the HO scale C-Line model. [6]
Atlas Model Railroad made plastic models of the five-axle passenger C-Liner between 1967 and approximately 1969. [7]
Rivarossi produced plastic four-axle C-Liner A- and B-units between 1954 and 1982. [8] This model was later sold under the AHM brand.
Lionel announced 0 gauge versions of the CPA units (ex. MTH Tooling) in their 2021 Volume 2 catalog. [9] Dealer Trainworld announced custom versions for the Long Island Rail Road, clad in other LI liveries than offered in the catalog.
Railroad | Quantity A units | Quantity B units | Road numbers A units | Road numbers B units | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (“Milwaukee Road”) | 12 | 6 | 23A,C–28A,C | 23B–28B | |
New York Central Railroad | 8 | 4 | 6600–6607 | 6900–6903 | Delivered 2-3/1952, retired 9/1966 [10] |
Pennsylvania Railroad | 16 | 8 | 9448A–9455A, 9492A–9499A | 9448B–9454B, 9492B&9498B (all even nos. only) | |
Totals | 36 | 18 |
Railroad | Quantity A units | Quantity B units | Road numbers A units | Road numbers B units | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Central Railroad | 12 | 3 | 5006–5017 | 5102–5104 | 5006, 5010, 5013, 5014 re-engined with 1,500 hp (1.12 MW) EMD 567C engines in 1955, remainder re-engined with 1,750 hp (1.30 MW) EMD 567C engines in 1956. All later scrapped. [11] |
Railroad | Quantity | Road numbers | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Long Island Rail Road | 8 | 2001–2008 |
Railroad | Quantity | Road numbers | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Fairbanks-Morse (demonstrator units) | 2 | 4801–4802 | to New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad 790–791 |
Long Island Rail Road | 4 | 2401–2404 | |
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad | 8 | 792–799 | |
New York Central Railroad | 8 | 4500–4507 | Re-engined with EMD 16-567C engines 1955-56, all retired 10/66 and sold for scrap 1/67 [12] |
Total | 22 |
Railroad | Quantity A units | Quantity B units | Road numbers A units | Road numbers B units | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canadian National Railways | 23 | 3 | 8700–8744 (even numbers only) | 8701–8705 (odd numbers only) | |
Canadian Pacific Railway | 6 | 4 | 4076–4081 | 4455–4458 | |
Totals | 29 | 7 |
Railroad | Quantity A units | Quantity B units | Road numbers A units | Road numbers B units | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fairbanks-Morse (demonstrator units) | 2 | — | 7005–7006 | — | to Canadian Pacific 4064–4065 |
Canadian Pacific Railway | 8 | 8 | 4052–4057, 4104–4105 | 4449–4454, 4471–4472 | |
Totals | 10 | 8 |
Railroad | Quantity A units | Quantity B units | Road numbers A units | Road numbers B units | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canadian National Railways | 6 | 6 | 6700–6705 | 6800–6805 |
Though none of the C Liners built by Fairbanks-Morse escaped the cutter's torch, 2 A units built by The Canadian Locomotive Company for the Canadian Pacific Railway are preserved. A unit 4104 is preserved on outdoor display in Nelson, British Columbia, and A unit 4065 is awaiting restoration at the Canadian museum of Science and technology in Ottawa. [13] B units 4455 and 4456 (converted to BC Rail radio control receiver cars) were under private ownership in Calgary, Alberta but have since been scrapped in December 2023. [14]
Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer that existed under several names from 1883 to 1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For many years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company. MLW's headquarters and manufacturing facilities were in Montreal, Quebec.
Fairbanks, Morse and Company was an American manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinders, radios, farm tractors, feed mills, locomotives, and industrial supplies until it was purchased by Penn Texas in 1958.
The EMD BL2 is a model of diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD). A total of 58 units were built between 1947 and 1949. The BL2 was not very successful, as it was unreliable and occupied a gap between carbody and hood units, which resulted in it suffering from the drawbacks of both designs. However, lessons learned from the BL2 were incorporated into EMD's next design, the GP7.
The EMC-TA was a model of diesel locomotive produced for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad by the Electro-Motive Corporation in 1937. The original six Rock Island Rockets streamliners were three- or four-car stainless-steel semi-articulated trainsets built by Budd Company, powered by six identical locomotives, #601-606. The locomotives were classified as model TA—the T indicating Twelve hundred hp (890 kW), the A indicating an A unit. The Rock Island Line was EMC's only customer for the TA locomotive model.
EMD E-units were a line of passenger train streamliner diesel locomotives built by the General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) and its predecessor the Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC). Final assembly for all E-units was in La Grange, Illinois. Production ran from May 1937, to December, 1963. The name E-units refers to the model numbers given to each successive type, which all began with E. The E originally stood for eighteen hundred horsepower, the power of the earliest model, but the letter was kept for later models of higher power.
Electro-Motive Corporation 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 units for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Diesel Locomotive #1. The twin engine power unit layout and multiple unit control systems developed with the B-B locomotives were soon adopted for other locomotives such as the Burlington Route's Zephyr locomotives built by the Budd Company in 1936 and EMC's own EMD E-units introduced in 1937. The B-B locomotives worked as proof-of-concept demonstrators for diesel power with the service loads of full size trains, breaking out of its niche powering the smaller custom Streamliners.
The EMD FT is a 1,350-horsepower (1,010 kW) diesel-electric locomotive that was produced between March 1939 and November 1945, by General Motors' Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC), later known as GM Electro-Motive Division (EMD). The "F" stood for Fourteen Hundred (1400) horsepower and the "T" for Twin, as it came standard in a two-unit set. The design was developed from the TA model built for the C,RI&P in 1937, and was similar in cylinder count, axle count, length, and layout. All told 555 cab-equipped ”A” units were built, along with 541 cabless booster or ”B” units, for a grand total of 1,096 units. The locomotives were all sold to customers in the United States. It was the first model in EMD's very successful F-unit series of cab unit freight diesels and was the locomotive that convinced many U.S. railroads that the diesel-electric freight locomotive was the future. Many rail historians consider the FT one of the most important locomotive models of all time.
EMD F-units are a line of diesel-electric locomotives produced between November 1939 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors-Diesel Division. Final assembly for all F-units was at the GM-EMD plant at La Grange, Illinois, and the GMDD plant in London, Ontario. They were sold to railroads throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, and a few were exported to Saudi Arabia. The term F-unit refers to the model numbers given to each successive type, all of which began with the letter F. The F originally meant "fourteen", as in 1,400 horsepower (1,000 kW), not "freight". Longer EMD E-units for passenger service had twin 900-horsepower (670 kW) diesel engines. The E meant "eighteen" as in 1,800 horsepower (1,300 kW). Similarly, for early model EMD switchers, S meant "six hundred" and N meant "nine hundred horsepower".
The EMD FP7 is a 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW), B-B dual-service passenger and freight-hauling diesel locomotive produced between June 1949 and December 1953 by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant, excepting locomotives destined for Canada, in which case final assembly was at GMD's plant in London, Ontario. The FP7 was essentially EMD's F7A locomotive extended by four feet to give greater water capacity for the steam generator for heating passenger trains.
The H-24-66, or Train Master, was a diesel-electric railroad locomotive produced by Fairbanks-Morse and its licensee, Canadian Locomotive Company. These six-axle hood unit road switchers were deployed in the United States and Canada during the 1950s.
The H-16-66 was a 1,600 horsepower locomotive, with a C-C wheel arrangement that was manufactured by Fairbanks-Morse from January, 1951 until October, 1958 as a smaller alternative to their better known FM H-24-66 "Train Master" locomotive. With an 8-cylinder prime mover developing 1600 hp compared to the H-24-66's 2400 hp from as 12 cylinder engine, the H-16-66 was commonly referred to as the "Baby Train Master". Although sharing a common model designation, four different carbody variants existed with a total of only 59 locomotives produced.
An SDP40 is a 6-axle passenger diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) between June 1966 and May 1970.
The FM H-10-44 was a switcher locomotive produced by Fairbanks-Morse from August, 1944–March, 1950. The units featured a 1,000-horsepower (750 kW), six-cylinder opposed piston prime mover, and were configured in a B-B wheel arrangement mounted atop a pair of two-axle AAR Type A trucks, with all axles powered. Many H-10-44s received modifications that increased their horsepower rating to 1,200 hp (890 kW).
The FM H-16-44 was a diesel-electric locomotive produced by Fairbanks-Morse from April 1950 – February 1963. The locomotive shared an identical platform and carbody with the predecessor Model FM H-15-44, and were equipped with the same eight-cylinder opposed piston engine that had been uprated to 1,600 horsepower (1,200 kW). The H-16-44 was configured in a B-B wheel arrangement, mounted atop a pair of two-axle AAR Type-B road trucks with all axles powered. In late 1950, the AAR trucks were almost exclusively replaced with the same units found on the company's "C-liner" locomotives.
The FM H-15-44 was a diesel locomotive manufactured by Fairbanks-Morse from September 1947 to June 1950. The locomotive was powered by a 1,500-horsepower (1,100 kW), eight-cylinder opposed piston engine as its prime mover, and was configured in a B-B wheel arrangement mounted atop a pair of two-axle AAR Type-B road trucks with all axles powered. The H-15-44 featured an offset cab design that provided space for an optional steam generator in the short hood, making the model versatile enough to work in passenger service as well as freight duty.
The FM H-20-44 was a diesel locomotive manufactured by Fairbanks-Morse from June 1947 – March 1954. It represented the company's first foray into the road switcher market. The 2,000 hp (1,490 kW), ten-cylinder opposed piston engine locomotive was referred to by F-M's engineering department as the "Heavy Duty" unit. It was configured in a B-B wheel arrangement mounted atop a pair of two-axle AAR Type-B road trucks with all axles powered. H-20-44s shared the same platform and much of the same carbody as the lighter-duty FM H-15-44, which began its production run three months later.
The Erie-built was the first streamlined, cab-equipped dual service diesel locomotive built by Fairbanks-Morse, introduced as direct competition to such models as the ALCO PA and FA and EMD FT. F-M lacked the space and staff to design and manufacture large road locomotives in their own plant at Beloit, Wisconsin, and was concerned that waiting to develop the necessary infrastructure would cause them to miss out on the market opportunity for large road locomotives. Engineering and assembly work was subcontracted out to General Electric, which produced the locomotives at its Erie, Pennsylvania, facility, thereby giving rise to the name "Erie-built."
The P-12-42, also known as the Speed Merchant, was a streamlined, 1,200 hp (890 kW) locomotive built between 1957–1958 by Fairbanks-Morse, specifically to operate on each end of the Talgo train produced by American Car and Foundry. This model represented F-M's attempted entry into the lightweight locomotive market, but only four of the low-slung units were produced: the first pair was purchased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad for their John Quincy Adams train, while the second pair went to the Boston and Maine Railroad for their Speed Merchant train.
The ALCO FA was a family of B-B diesel locomotives designed to haul freight trains. The locomotives were built by a partnership of ALCO and General Electric in Schenectady, New York, between January 1946 and May 1959. Designed by General Electric's Ray Patten, they were of a cab unit design; both cab-equipped lead FA and cabless booster FB models were built. A dual passenger-freight version, the FPA/FPB, was also offered. It was equipped with a steam generator for heating passenger cars.
The GE boxcabs, sometimes also GE IR boxcabs, were diesel-electric switcher locomotives succeeding the ALCO boxcabs. The locomotives were built by General Electric and Ingersoll Rand without ALCO. Production lasted from 1928 to 1930. These boxcabs were often termed oil-electrics to avoid the use of the German name Diesel, unpopular after World War I.