General Motor's F Series of Locomotives, 1939 to 1960, Documentary.
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- čas přidán 26. 09. 2023
- The history of one of the best known American locomotives.
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Pioneer Zephy rWinton 8-201A diesel engine.
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For me, these F units are the best looking locomotives ever.
I think so too,but F 2 toF7 are my favorite
Interesting how the FRA mandate of having the walkway around the engine for switching safety pretty much permanently changed the entire loco design to GP-style.
Icc, fra didn't exist
Is that why they look so ugly
I wondered why they abandoned the aerodynamics, sleek look, and some forward visibility. They did bring back cab units later with the G40? but without the curved nose. I always thought they could lengthen the B units to hold either boilers or box cabs, enabling them to run independently in a pinch, which I think he said they did a few longer ones with boilers but not box cabs. they could also cram that stuff in the standard length with a shorter v8 engine and if that lacks power then just hook up another.
I especially like those 5 axle New Haven models. though I grew up near Boston and always liked and watched out for F and E units, I can't remember ever seeing a 5 axle F unit, and I think I would have noticed.
Easily the best looking engines ever made.
It's the curves...
Baldwin Sharknose might be better, but obviously not as successful. F units were beautiful.
I had the privilege of being engineer on a 1950 EMD F-7, from 1999 to 2021. It was quite an experience.🙂🙂
That’s a rarity by then 😎👍
I drive train, its ok job... 12 hour shift is fun for the first 4 hours, next 4 hours is ok, the last 4 hours are hard. Many early risings, many nights away from home, after night shift feeling like shiet :)
@@viliusr.8792 Its like flying an airliner across the ocean....boring
I bet. Lucky guy!
@@viliusr.8792You drive train ?
I worked as an electrician on metro north's fleet of FL9's from 1985 to 87. During that time they were transiting from steam heat for the coaches to HEP (head end power)
The back section of the FL9's where the steam boiler was located was gutted and a cummins 6 cylinder gen set was installed in its place. The new (at the time ) bombardier coaches used 3 phase 480v power for heating and A/C. The bombardier coaches were well lit and comfortable compared to the old pullman coaches with there axle generators for lighting power and steam heat only.
The Galveston Railroad Museum has two beautiful F-units that run today, very nice to visit when going on cruise boats next door!
Good to know! I live near Galveston.
Excellent video, nice summary of the history of the F units!
Thanks!
Great documentary- especially for those like myself who were too young to see F units in service
Face it, it's a beautiful engine. A classic.
Note the FRA did not exist at that time. The correct agency is the ICC
My favorite diesels ever are the Alco Pa and The EMD F unit diesels. Most notably the Santa Fe F7s used for passenger service.
You Sir do a fantastic job,in your history and description of these diesels. My hat is off to you! Thank you for doing such a thorough job in research and description of our great American Diesel Heritage.
Thank you!
I appreciate the compliment!
Surprisingly in Australia when Victorian Railway’s decided in 1953 to dieselize they stepped out of the box. They decided they wanted what we call the B Class bi-directional locomotive with a Co Co wheel arraignment. Built in Sydney under license by Clyde Engineering, EMD hadn’t built one of theses before. Ground breaking was the Co Co wheel arraignment and double ended design. 26 units were ordered, first 25 , with the 567 2 stroke 16 cylinder 1500 hp diesel,final one B85 had the upgraded 645 1800 hp diesel. 12 units in the 1980’s were upgraded with 2500 hp 12 cylinder units, these they called the A Class.Surprisingly many of these B Class and A Class units are doing everyday work after 70 year, also many just doing heritage work. A testament to there sound design or perhaps maybe just penny pinching railway management.🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
I wonder if that design was before or after the european F-units like the NOHAB F-units with co-co trucks and dual cabs.
ALSO I really like Australian rail stuff
@@nekomasteryoutube3232Yes, because its soo old....vintage trains in regular service.
@@nekomasteryoutube3232 The European Nohab and AFB locomotives were based on the Australian design, the first units would enter service around 1955. Essentially they were a B class sharing all but the body design. Railways ordered these after trials with a couple of earlier EMD designs, USATC #1818 which toured west and central Europe and G12 7707 bought by the Norwegian Railways (preserved) for testing purposes which visited the other Nordic countries.
The body of the European model had more rounded roofs to fit the loading gauge, the roof cantrail of the B class was just out of gauge, otherwise width and height were the same.
The European locomotives have an equally long service life, some of the Danish and Norwegian Nohab built examples still in revenue service to this day for private companies.
I experienced the AFB locomotives of classes 52-53-54 of the Belgian state railways and 1600 of Luxemburg many times, the Belgian locomotives were in service till 2003, the Luxemburg examples ended service in 1995.
Those were rebuilt during the '80s and '90s with new floating cabs to improve driver comfort and safety by adding an impact absorbing structure in the nose and resilient shock absorbers under the cabs.
Later many other designs using EMD prime movers were built in Europe or imported from the US and Canada.
Thank for the video about these locomotives. I did hear "turbo-charger" mentioned, which none of the F units had. Being two cycle engines they needed the roots blowers to function at all. The first EMDs with turbo changers added in addition to the roots blowers were the GP-20 and SD-24. Also, I heard about "increased displacement" of a new model. They all had 16 cylinders with 567 cubic inches per cylinder so they all had the same displacement. You don't see much about F units on CZcams so thanks for this presentation.
I don't bilevel I said that the F units were turbo charged. I did, however point out that Alco PA's and Alco's 244 prime movers were.
Thanks For watching!
Exactly as you said. It was the Alco’s.
Good, bad or indifferent, they certainly were a very handsome locomotive.
The Super Chiefs were one of the most beautiful locos ever.
Great video. A pleasure to watch these magnificent locomotives. Thanks for sharing.
And thank you for watching!
It's interesting that F-units were so popular that you can still find them in abundance around tourist railroads and some shortlines.
Now if only modern locomotives could have the same streamlined cab style.
I enjoyed the video, the first of yours I have watched. I would suggest slowing down a little! I like to think about what I am hearing, and there isn’t enough time!
Thank you for the documentary, F series a favorite of mine. Cab looks like a B 17 bomber, those deisles always pull so well. It is a favorite on my HO railroad. 😊
Thank you for pointing out the similarities between the Santa Fe Super Chief and B-17’s . I always been fascinated by both . Also big wings on birds too .
Ah, so many child-7hood memories of GP-7s and GP-9s on the C&O, but an enduring love of the E's and F's. Wonderful video, good work!
Great video but one minor correction. Dynamic brakes do not work by reversing the current as you explained but rather it works by disconnecting the traction motors in the trucks from the generator, this essentially makes the traction motors themselves generators whose output is fed into a large variable resister grid creating resistance to the wheels turning. In most modern transit systems this is further enhanced by feeding the generated power back into the overhead system instead of just turning it into heat in a resister grid. Again very nice video!
Spoken like a True Wikipedia
Actually, you have to feed the traction motors "excitation current" before they can start producing braking power...it's not just a simple cut and replace 😉
@@brentboswell1294 Thanks. I almost responded to tucorameriz3538, "Are you sure about that?". Also, as far as I know, the dynamic brake resistor grid is not a variable resistor (that would get real complicated). The amount of dynamic braking, as you said, is regulated by the amount of excitation current through the field windings of the traction motors. Which explains why there are several "notches" (throttle settings) controlling the diesel engine when it is used in dynamic braking. Gives the engineer more flexibility when coming down the variety of grades and train loads.
@@seabulls69 I do believe that the resistors get "plumbed" differently depending on which notch you're in...I also know that EMD had two levels of dynamic braking available, standard and extended range. The Southern Pacific had extended range dynamic brakes on their locomotives, especially the Tunnel Motors, that took the brunt of the brutal mountain assignments on the Espee. I saw more than one tunnel motor with peeling paint around the dynamic brake resistor grid (from the heat) 😄
One other minor correction: FP7 and FP9 locomotives didn’t have larger steam generators. Instead, they utilized the extra four feet for additional water tanks.
Other than the commentary seeming somewhat rushed, It was very informative and seemed very knowledgeable. I enjoyed the video since F units were my favorite engine growing up.
My sentiments exactly! Great info, but it sounds like every pause was removed. They do have a purpose - sentences should not all run together. I have a hard time listening that fast. ;)
I personally have always been a fan of the Warbonnet. I'm now in my 70s, and the Kato Super Chief rolls around my model rr layout.
Yeah, I had to slow the video down to .75 to take in what the narrator was saying.
He speaks too fast.
Speaking quickly packs more information into a shorter video. I know I’d rather watch a 25-minute video than a 45-minute video. In fact, I played it at 1.25x to make it even shorter.
@@ArmpitStudios Not everyone is a sperg and you're not saving 20 minutes by speaking fast... maybe 2-4 minutes. Concise writing and good editing is better than talking faster.
Thanks for using the B&O F7 shots from Martinsburg, WV and also including the Grafton Coaling tower. There isn't much left in either place now. Good video!
Very good appreciated good job retired CBS a.k.a f2nd generation railroad switch man.great video thanks for the memory of the covered wagons.
Great video! Speaking fast makes for concise videos that hold interest
Enjoyed seeing all those older EMC/EMD engines, and all of the historical info you added. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
A great video! Thanks for making and uploading it.
Excellent Excelant video and discription of these prime movers. I grew up riding the CN&W 400's out of Chicago and north.
1:41 look at Sheldon play his best card in a previous life
I honesty did not see that till you pointed it out!😲
Thanks for watching!
OMG that looks a lot like him!
It blows my mind thinking that the year after the last E9 was built that EMD built the SD45
I operated a UP 942 E8 at the southern California railway museum
Fantastic history! Thanks! I only planned to watch a few minutes, but I couldn’t stop watching 😊
A fine documentary on what is certainly my favorite time in American RR's. Some great pictures here of probably my favorite locomotive design and a few pictures of some obscure units I don't recall seeing before as well. And speaking of pictures, lot's a neat shots of my favorite RR, which of course is, the mighty B&O. Thanks for another great video.
Your welcome!
Excellent Presentation on the history Development and usage of the F / GP Series Engines.
Wow. Comprehensive, impressive, and informative. Great job.
Thanks!
A lot of memories! Thank you!
Excellent video. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you.
Thank you for this. 25 min went fast. Enjoyed the history of these locos. I’m from NYC, so I grew up with the FL-9’s.
Those war bonnets were beautiful that whole stainless look of the whole Santa Fe train
There’s a lot of good info here, but it’s really jarring to watch and listen to, with the cuts, editing of audio, and constant tone of voice. Take a break between sections. Silence is good.
Agree. Too monotonous
Wow! This video took a lot of research. Thanks for putting in the work and sharing it with us. :-)
Your welcome! Thanks for watching!
Excellent video Alco diesel guy. Many nice pictures. I love those F-units.👍🙂
5:03 ...😌😌😌..your video brings back flashing memories of the movie RAW DEAL ( 1986 )... where in the opening's one of this locomotives pulls out from the station and one of the mobsters walks through the scenery....I just miss those ol' times of vhs ....thanx for the upload. 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺👍
Also the WPB decided that almost all diesel engines were going into ships. EMD Alco and Fairbanks Morse all produced thousands of engines that were stuffed into LST destroyer escorts most auxiliary ships and submarines.
I live near Grapevine, Texas. The Grapevine Vintage Railroad has two of the former New Haven FL-9’s in their fleet.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe had no problems with heating passenger trains over long distances with their F units. The A units carried water tanks in the boiler space at the rear of the carbody, and the B units were the only ones that had steam generators 😊 Should probably note that the reason why they preferred F units as power on their premier trains is because a cut of F units could pull the Super Chief and El Capitan up Raton Pass in New Mexico and Cajon Pass in California without helpers. E units were terrible in this regard, as they were designed for high speed running, and the F units had more tractive effort per axle (especially at lower speeds like you'd encounter in helper districts) than the E units. The A1A wheel arrangement in the E's was partially to blame.
For those who may not know the truck designation: A1A means the three axles are "Powered - Idler - Powered". Since the E unit had two trucks, the complete designation is "A1A-A1A". Most locomotives we see today with 6-wheel trucks have all axles powered and are designated "C-C". "C" meaning "3". (North American notations.)
@@trainliker100 although GE built a custom order of Evo locomotives for the BNSF recently that look exactly like any other Evo series, except that they have the A1A-A1A power arrangement. I think that the idea is that the units were designed for high speed intermodal service (similar to the ATSF "Superfleet" GP60M's and Dash 8-40BW's), however because of the weight constraints of modern locomotives, they have to maintain an idler axle...no more B trucks 🙁
@@brentboswell1294 I'll bet they have better "riding qualities", too. Although perhaps not a goal, but if true something I'm sure crews appreciate.
@@brentboswell1294Their center axles could also be raised. If you look at the trucks, you can see the mechanism to do this. Their suffix designation is C4, if I remember correctly. We used to get these on BNSF run-through coal trains and you would also get them on other freights. I believe that they would raise the axle in certain areas, like yards and the like, because of tighter curves. Operationally, you couldn't tell the difference unless you looked at the designation.
Also the A1A trucks were used on road switchers too, they had 2 less traction motors which lowered the weight of the Locomotive for use on lighter rail!!!
Nicely narrated, in-depth and informative.
Thank you kindly!
Best looking diesel series!
Brilliant explanation and documentary of these amazing machines they are just so iconic.
Many thanks!
Loved the video, thanks!
Santa Fe converted 233 F-7 to CF-7 by changing the body to something similar to a GP-7. These CF-7 are still running on short line railroads.
They had a very mixed reputation, most gone by late 80's despite their GP7 counterparts soldiering on into the BNSF merger.
While I understand this is a video about railroad engines and prime movers, you didn't mention the use of GM Cleveland 16-248 and 16-278A V-type powerplants in Gato and Balao Class submarines. [Also some boats were equipped with Fairbanks-Morse 38D 8-1/8 engines.]
The diversion of this GM/EMD and FM machinery by the War Production Board to the Navy also hampered the proliferation of diesel power to the railroad industry until postwar.
A big thumbs up 👍 I'm gonna subscribe. What an interesting we resting channel you have❤
This video is simply awesome, thanks for the posting. Had an interest in the EMD loco the first time I rode on the Spirit of Progress from Melbourne to Albury NSW, ( Aust) in the early fifties.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video as always
very fortunate enough to obtain several F units in N Scale :D
Excellent Documentary!
The cash-strapped Western Pacific chose to keep its last 4 F7As in revenue service over their mainline between Stockton, CA and Milpitas, CA all the way up into the 1983 Union Pacific merger. They became well known fixtures on the San Jose Turn and were nicknamed the "Fab Four." A testament to their reliability and popularity was them being refurbished by Morrison-Knudsen in 1978 and given their first fresh coat of paint in decades. They all survive today in museums, in operating condition.
hi there.greetings from england, great video, love the F units wish we had them over here back in the day
Excellent I've learned so much that I thought I knew.
Thank you. I learned a lot.
At the end of the 50s the Breda Marelli Company G.A.I. of Italy began production of E-32 electric locomotives with a very similar design to GE's F Series. They were equipped with 4 Siemens electric motors with a total power of 3600 HP. Beautiful and impressive machines, some of which are still in use.
Really great EMD mini-docu video thanks! Good to hear a proper NY-sounding accent also ! 🙂 I didn't realise just the ridiculous number of such locos that EMD manufactured. Must have been coining it in
It's just an American accent
@@mtanyctrainatlantamartatra7164 Nah, even to a non-American, there are distinct differences between say *older* New York-area folk, Boston/Mass. etc areas, "Midwest US" & some of the southern US accents. Like the NY Subway announcer saying "Toidy-Toid Street". the one I like best is the Texan accent exemplified by the actor Slim Pickens in the film Doctor Strangelove. My pet hate is the US TV "MidWest" bland awfulness, esp. when spoken by a female, so whiny & nasal
Great video 😊
I am a huge fan of the EMD E & F series locomotives, I love the pics and videos, but when I see pic and videos with cars of yester year with them it gives me a high.
Very interesting. Never thought that this Type is so old.👍👍🇩🇪
Growing up in Texas, my grandparents house was 100yds from the Missouri Pacific main line to Houston I remember well the F7, Gp 7, and Gp 20's brings back memories.
The Santa Fe F3's became the most famous and well-known locomotive in the US because of Lionel's model, starting in 1948. They also offered a NYC version, also. I never got to run an F unit, but I did operate an FA a couple of times.
Everybody loves the Super Chief paint scheme, but I like the NYC F3 version, with the Art Deco Black/Gray scheme even better!
I grew up with multiple generations of the Trainz Railroad simulator, a game that featured a lot of EMD and ALCo products. Being young and not American, I didn't see much difference, except between aforementioned ALCo's and EMDs, as well as New Haven's FL9 which I always found a bit odd. Thank you for giving me some if the background! If you have videos on the PA I'll follow up with watching those.
Thank you for pointing out that as the unit got upgraded the exterior might change to accommodate the internal change. So that's why you see units where they look like one F-7 when the builder plate would say F-3. Duh!
Burlington Northern zephyr????? Chicago Burlington & Quincy bought the Zephyr. BN didn't exist for another 40 years
Yes, I caught that too. Terms like that and the uneven narration leads me to believe that it was produced using AI.
@@frederickschulkind8431I'm not sure it's AI. It certainly could be, but I have a feeling the audio clips were snipped at the beginning and ends to mesh them better. It sounds like it wasn't recorded in a professional matter.
It seems like a project they'd get you do for a school assignment or something of that nature. Passionately made but poorly researched at some points.
How dense do you think we are? It was a verbal typo get over it 😤
@@Drewmeetsworld6969 I'm you are welcoming to occasional viewers to your channel. I only ever comment with the best of intentions but obviously you are unable to recognise this.
Good stuff Hoss.
Like those stream line nose locomotives
I would like to mention the NSB (Norwegian railways) DI-3 locomotive made by NOHAB in the 1950’s: "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSB_Di_3" made on the F7 concept. They had a supercharged (roots blower) EMD 567 V16. The DI-3 was rugged , reliable and able to take on any climatic challenge Norway could throw at it; It had no real worthy competitors until the mid 1990's and wasn’t taken out of service until the early 2000’s. I was working on these locomotives a short period in my life and will never forget the old, solid and bulletproof technology. Hearing and feeling this beast working was an almost visceral experience. The rumble from the engine as it accelerated to take on the inclines was unforgettable, you could hear it from miles away. Much of todays equipment are very much sophisticated, quieter, stronger and faster but will inevitably end up as scrap and forgotten. The DI-3 became legend in it’s half century of service, will never be forgotten and justly so.
How the Santa Fe got around the water issue was this. The B units only carried the boilers with the water tank in the other end of the engine. Plus they shoved another water tank into the A unit where they would have carried the boiler. So they carried in an AB setup 1600 gallons of water for the boiler.
Northern Pacific had steam generators in both A- and B-units. For their long-distance passenger trains, they added water tanks to adjacent baggage cars to increase water capacity.
So cool, very interesting indeed
Very informative! Greetings from Port Saint Lucie Florida! Have you ever seen the train videos from wisconsin by Roamin' around with Roman! They are well done.
In my car, I would really rather keep the metal side up! Nice video. Well done.
I found this very interesting, it seems like anything GM ever decided to jump into they made it better.
Yes, for a time--- then they ruin it.
@@user-mr3ct1dm9p I guess I haven't seen anything that they have ruined, personally as far as vehicles go, that is all we drive, they run longer with less maintenance than anything else.
Wish I had a nickel for every time I ran an F-7! That was the workhorse of CNW's Chicago suburban commuter fleet and I hostled those engines at M19-A for several years before getting set up or first working as a fireman. CNW even had some still in freight service in the Chicago Division.
Don’t want to pile on, but please slow down, add some pauses here and there. Very good info and love the numerous pics of the locomotives..
Woodlawn is in The Bronx, NY, not Massachusetts,. The FL-9's were only supposed to run on third rail power in the Park Avenue tunnel and Park Avenue Viaduct between Grand Central Terminal and the 125th Street Station. They differ from other F units in having Flexcoil trucks, not Blomberg..
To change radiators you had to be part Olympic weight lifter and part octopus
I heard the the front windows on the F units (and later E units) were sourced from the windshields of GM's cars but I've never been able to confirm that.
I wonder if you are gonna do the E units in the next documentary, no one has done it before so finger cross
I just about lost it when the plastic HO model of the 567 engine was displayed. 😂😂😂
Been hoping for this 👍🏻❤️ sexiest diesel ever made by EMD…
I like those old diesel electric engines. A units a units and and it's a tradition
Very interesting video...although very fast commentary a lot to take in at speed.
No disrespect meant at all.i collect all of these locos mentioned...I love them and their history 👍🇬🇧
One particular F unit that should be mentioned is an F3 built for the gulf Mobile in Ohio in 1946 lived on and became a passenger locomotive for MBTA in the late 80s or early 90s, then it became a Metro-North passenger locomotive, finally being retired in late 2008 making it the longest running F unit.
JP Morgan's greed is what killed the NH expansion. When faced with some bad investments and impending bankruptcy himself due to the Panic of 1916, he yanked the cash out of both the New Haven and the Boston and Maine who he owned. This put both railroads into bankruptcy themselves and forced the companies to trim many branch lines and curtail plans. One of the plans, while under New Haven control, was to electrify the B&M Connecticut River Line to East Deerfield and the mainline to Boston in addition to completing the electrification of the New Haven to Boston. imagine what that would've been like today if the plans had come to fruition.
Patrick McGuinness wasn't much better. He sucked the cash out of both the B&M and the NH in the 1960s, forcing both roads into bankruptcy once again. When Penn Central was forced to take the NH, they didn't really want that railroad, or so it's said and ran everything on the lines with little maintenance as possible. It's amazing that the line actually survived and got sucked into Conrail.
Sadly, the FP10s are no longer in service on the MBTA and haven't been for some years now but some have found their way to tourist lines. I remember the Boston and Maine Budd Liners in full swing. They were degraded into passenger cars and lived on while being pulled by the Easter Eggs. Seeing the smartly painted FP10s pulling fluted-sided passenger cars, all with steam seeping out from under them in the winter was like taking a step back in time, but alas both had reached their age when things started to fall apart and time marched on.
What's interesting is Australia still runs some of their equivalent F-units. Built under contract, these units were produced in Australia using imported EMD parts.
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The F series are still the sexiest diesels ever. Bring these back instead of the generic Genesis.
I like how they used Use one in the nineteen seventy six movie silver street with jean wylder
We got friend my dad work angus shop montreal cp rail f unit was not bad but for passenger service when get cold steam pipe frooze worst was western canada deep freeze most couple last cars frooze up.the freight was ok but need more unit push mountain range calgary- vancouver bc.he said if you work cold weather outside shut-down engine sometime he have warm up house so engine start.cp and cn bought bunch them keep long time.thanks video😊
WhAt AbOuT tHe F-40 AnD F-45's!? Lol, very nice video, great information.
The F40PH is a Cowl unit ( the cowl was just a cover) over a FP7 which the truss work and body work is part of the locomotive.
Amazing how much stuff we used to invent and make in the USA
Trains are my passion !
The Zephyr was owned by the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad, not the Burlington Northern.
What’s the story behind keep the metal side down?