EMD E7

The E7 was a 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW), A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. 428 cab versions, or E7As, were built from February 1945 to April 1949; 82 booster E7Bs were built from March 1945 to July 1948. (Circa 1953 one more E7A was built by the Los Angeles General Shops of the Southern Pacific by rebuilding an E2A.) The 2,000 hp came from two 12 cylinder model 567A engines. Each engine drove its own electrical generator to power the two traction motors on one truck. The E7 was the eighth model in a line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units, and it became the best selling E model upon its introduction.^[1]

EMD E7
Pennsylvania Railroad E7A #5901 on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 2015.
Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) Model E7 Build date February 1945 – April 1949 Total produced 428 A units, 82 B units
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR A1A-A1A Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Wheel diameter 36 in (914 mm) Minimum curve 21° (274.37 ft or 83.63 m radius) Length 71 ft (22 m) Width 10 ft 6+1⁄2 in (3.213 m) Height 14 ft 11 in (4.55 m) Loco weight A unit: 315,000 lb (143,000 kg), B unit: 290,000 lb (130,000 kg) Fuel type Diesel Prime mover (2) EMD 567A RPM range 800 Engine type V12 Two-stroke diesel Aspiration Mechanical via Roots blower Displacement 6,804 cu in (111.50 L) each Generator (2) EMD D-4 Traction motors (4) GM D7 or D17 or D27 Cylinders (2) 12
Performance figures Maximum speed 85–117 mph (137–188 km/h) Power output 2,000 hp (1,491 kW) total Tractive effort 56,500 lbf (251,000 N) starting, 31,000 lbf (140,000 N) continuous
Career Locale United States Disposition One preserved on static display, remainder scrapped.

In profile the front of the nose of an E7A was less slanted than on earlier EMD passenger locomotives, and the E7, E8, and E9 units have been nicknamed “bulldog nose” units. Some earlier units were called “shovel nose” units or “slant nose” units.

In film

A Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad E7A, #103-A, appears at the start and end of the 1967 film In The Heat of the Night.

A Southern Pacific E7A, #6001, is on the point of a train that figures prominently in "The Hitch-Hiker", a popular 1960 episode of the anthology television series, The Twilight Zone, starring Inger Stevens. (According to the narration, Steven's character is said to encounter the train somewhere between Pennsylvania and Tennessee, yet the locomotive's number board shows that the train, #99, is the Coast Daylight, which travelled between Los Angeles and San Francisco.)

Surviving example

Ex-Pennsylvania Railroad E7A #5901 is preserved as the only surviving example of the E7. This locomotive has been cosmetically restored, and is currently on indoor display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.

Original owners

Railroad	Quantity A units	Quantity B units	Road numbers A units	Road numbers B units	Notes
Electro-Motive Division (demonstrator)	1	—	765	—	Former GM Train of Tomorrow demonstrator, sold to Union Pacific 988
Alton Railroad	7	—	101,A–103,A, 100	—	to GM&O in 1947
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad	20	10	524–543	755–764
Bangor and Aroostook Railroad	2	—	700–701	—	renumbered 10–11, Both Re-geared for freight in 1962
Boston and Maine Railroad	21	—	3800–3820	—
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	18	—	64,A–80,A	—	Even numbers only
Central of Georgia Railway	10	—	801–810	—
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway	4	—	95–98	—
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad	3	—	1100–1102	—
Chicago and North Western Railway	26	—	5007B, 5008A,B–5019A,B, 5020A	—
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad	44	—	9916A,B–9936A,B, 9937A, 9949	—
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad	11	9	632–642	632B–634B, 637B–642B
Florida East Coast Railway	17	3	1006–1022	1052–1054
Great Northern Railway	13	—	500A,B–504A,B, 510A–512A	—	500A,B–504A,B renumbered 500A–509A
Illinois Central Railroad	14	4	4005–4017, 4000	4100–4103
Louisville and Nashville Railroad	12	—	458A,B–461A,B, 790–793	—
Maine Central Railroad	7	—	705–711	—
Milwaukee Road	10	—	16A,B–20A,B	—
Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad	2	—	101A,B	—
Missouri Pacific Railroad	9	7	7004–7006, 7010–7011, 7014–7017	7004B, 7010B–7011B, 7014B–7017B	renumbered 13–15, 19–20, 23–26, 13B–15B, 17B–20B
Missouri Pacific Railroad (International-Great Northern Railroad)	3	1	7007, 7012–7013	7012B	renumbered 16, 21–22, 16B
Missouri Pacific Railroad (St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway)	2	—	7008–7009	—	renumbered 17–18
New York Central Railroad	36	14	4000–4035	4100–4113	E7B renumbered 4200-4213 by Penn Central in 1968
Pere Marquette Railway	8	—	101–108	—
Pennsylvania Railroad	46	14	5900A–5901A, 5840A–5883A	5840B–5864B (even only), 5900B	5900-5901A renumbered to 4200-4201, 5840-5841 to 4240-4241, 5842-5879 to 4202-4239, 5880-5883 to 4242-4245, all to Penn Central same numbers. E7B renumbered 4214-4227 in 1968
Seaboard Air Line Railroad	32	3	3017–3048	3105–3107
St. Louis–San Francisco Railway	6	—	2000–2005	—	Later rebuilt to look like E8's, but retained the same E7 innards
Southern Railway	18	—	2905–2922	—
Southern Pacific Company	5	10	6000A–6004A	6000B,C–6004B,C
	1	—	6017	—	Model E7m, rebuilt from an E2A at Los Angeles Shops.
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway	1	—	750	—	to Burlington Northern 9900
Texas and Pacific Railway	10	—	2000–2009	—	renumbered 1–10
Union Pacific Railroad	4	3	959A–960A, 930A–931A	961B–963B
Joint UP-C&NW	1	2	927A	928B–929B
Joint UP-SP-C&NW	1	2	907A	908B–909B
Wabash Railroad	4	—	1000, 1001, 1001A, 1002	—	1001 renumbered 1002A, then 1017; 1001A renumbered 1016
Total	429	82

See also

•  Trains portal

• List of GM-EMD locomotives

References

1. Foster, Gerald L. (1996). A field guide to trains of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 100. ISBN 0-395-70112-0.

• Dorin, Patrick C. (1972). Chicago and North Western Power. Burbank, California: Superior Publishing. p. 131. ISBN 0-87564-715-4.
• Lamb, J. Parker (2007). Evolution of the American Diesel Locomotive. Railroads Past and Present. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34863-0.
• Marre, Louis A. (1995). Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years: A Guide to Diesels Built Before 1972. Railroad Reference Series. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89024-258-2.
• Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. pp. EMD–121–EMD–123. ISBN 978-0-89024-026-7.
• Schafer, Mike (1998). Vintage Diesel Locomotives. Enthusiast Color Series. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7603-0507-2.
• Solomon, Brian (2000). The American Diesel Locomotive. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-7603-0666-6.
• Solomon, Brian (2006). EMD Locomotives. St. Paul, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0-7603-2396-0.
• Solomon, Brian (2010). Vintage Diesel Power. Minneapolis, Minnesota: MBI Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7603-3795-0.
• Solomon, Brian (2011). Electro-Motive E-Units and F-Units: The Illustrated History of North America's Favorite Locomotives. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0-7603-4007-3.
• Solomon, Brian (2012). North American Locomotives: A Railroad-by-Railroad Photohistory. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0-7603-4370-8.
• Wilson, Jeff (2002). E Units: Electro-Motive's Classic Streamliners. Classic Trains / Golden Years of Railroading series. Waukesha, WI, USA: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0890246068.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to EMD E7 locomotives.

• Kristopans, Andre J. "EMD E unit Serial numbers".
• Bachand, Jean-Denis. "EMC E7 Data Sheet". Retrieved 27 January 2013.
• Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania – #5901 page