Electro-Motive Corporation was an early builder of gas-electric railcars, later adding locomotives.  General Motors Corporation got the diesel bug in 1929 and bought Winton Engine Co., which made most of EMC's engines, the following year.  Later that year (1930), GM also bought out EMC, changing it's name to Electro-Motive Division.

The story of B&O #50 (later Alton, then GM&O), the world's first production main-line passenger diesel, and its two sisters, EMC demo units #511 and #512, is quite fascinating (to me, at any rate) and is covered on its own Survivors page.

EMD also built some boxcabs for the SF in 1935 and two 1,000hp E6 boxcabs (yes, Virginia, E6 boxcabs!) - see my Other Boxcabs page.

As far as I can tell, only one EMC/EMD boxcab survived; the B&O #50 at the National Museum of Transport in St. Louis.

Other EMC/EMD Boxcabs

An early EMD boxcab designed for freight operation was their Model 60; this boxcab is very close in shape and appearance to the ALCos.  The locomotive is a 400hp boxcab ca. 1930-31 and was equipped with a Winton 148 gasoline engine.  Two units, #463 and #464, went to the Lehigh Valley in 1930 and a third to the Steelton & Highspire Railroad {that's the steel mill immediately south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - SBIII} in 1931.  This info. supplied by my Web ami à Québec.

According to Louis A. Marre, in "Diesel locomotives: The First 50 Years" (see Boxcabs Bibliography), 1995, page 363, EMD built the mechanism and Bethlehem built the carbody (in 1930) and the S&H unit was delivered with a Winton 400-hp diesel but soon re-engined with a gasoline engine.  Marre includes a photograph of one of the LV units, but it is numbered 76 (Class BB-2) and the side is asymmetrical, with only an engineer's door to the right.

EMC built two other 1,800-hp passenger boxcabs in 1935, their demonstrators #511 and #512 were virtually identical to #50 but were scrapped in 1938*. Then they built nine boxy-cab units for SF and CB&Q in 1935-36 (see Pinkepank/Marre).

* - When #511 and #512 were scrapped, their trucks were used for NW4 builder's numbers 823 and 834, MP #4102 and #4103, that same year.

Marre and others show them on test (see the dynamometer car behind #511) - I hope to get permission to show that photo here.

There were also a pair of similar loco-cum-car units (with early semi-shovelnoses) for the Seaboard Air Line, 600-hp mail-baggage rail motor cars #2026 and #2027:   (08 Apr 05)

(Image from TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #20)

(Images from TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #20)

(Image from TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #20)

However, Pinkepank/Marre disgree a bit with what follows and I think you'll agree that what follows is far more comprehensive and probably far more accurate!

There is a fantastic history and photo gallery of "The Twins", and a superb HO model of one of them, by Werner Schneider, at ATSF_Class_1.

I now present here the story of the EMC/EMD AT&SF boxcabs from Werner Schneider's history and illustrations (with his kind permission).

The Class 1 locomotives were Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé's first mainline diesels.  Introduced in 1935 (delivered 30 Aug 1935), they underwent various modifications until they were scrapped in 1953.

Michael W. Blaszak's ATSF History: Santa Fe: A Chronology gives a brief but succinct introduction to ATSF's history (scroll down to the year 1935 and explore the story of the Class 1 engines).

Originally introduced as Class 1 and 1A*, they were rebuilt and renamed a number of times.  Gregg Fuhriman's ATSF: All-Time Diesel Roster gives you all the details; scroll down to the General Motors (EMC, EMD, GMDD) tabulation and watch for "boxcab"**.  Then scroll to the bottom and check the "Santa Fe rebuilds" table. No other prototype went through as many modifications in such a short period of time as the Class 1.

* - we seem to have a discrepancy over whether the twins started life as #1 and #1A or as #1A and #1B - oog!

** - It is interesting to see that the SF leased a third unit, #1C, from EMC that year!

Family tree of the Class 1

First introduction of The Twins (built by EMC and St. Louis Car Company)

09/1935:

Minor rebuild:			Minor rebuild:
Extended stacks, second		Cab windows blanked,
headlight, extra air horn,		side-windows covered, roof rebuilt,
roof mounted bells,			appearance as Booster

03/1937:

04/1938:

   

1940:

   

05/1941:

               

08/1948:

1953

   

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Built in 1935 by EMC (Electro-Motive Corporation, a subsidiary of General Motors), La Grange, Illinois, and St. Louis Car Company, St. Louis, Missouri, generally known and frequently referred to as “The Quality Shops”.  The company built all types of Rail Motor Cars, Streamlined Articulated Trains, and Motor Locomotives.  Among those were the diesel electric locomotive twins for the Super Chief heavy consist.  Some interesting details can be found in the Specification section (below).

The twins were initially named Diesel Electric Locomotive Class 1, numbers 1 and 1A {or possibly 1A and 1B}.  Through their life cycle they changed those numbers a couple of times.

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The most visible rebuild happened in 1938 at AT&SF's Topeka shops when the two units (#1 remained #1 and #1A became #10) got their very unique design. The only cab left per unit was raised in an (for that time) unusual way, giving the locomotive that distinctive look {the semi-turret cab}.

The lead truck was exchanged for a drop-equalizer 1B, 3-axle, roller-bearing truck with the first axle being an idler.  The rear truck remained in the original configuration but got roller-bearings as well, instead of solid-bearings.

A few years later (early 1940) the trailing truck was replaced in the same manner.

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#1 and the booster unit (ex #10, ex #1A) were supposed to be members of the AT&SF 2610 class but only the latter got the honor to be rebuilt into #2611 in 1948.  The new configuration is shown in the pictures below.  #2611 served in branch line service as a transfer switcher and local freight unit on EMD-FT-type freight trucks (B-B arrangement).  It was the first high-horsepower road switcher on the Santa Fe Railroad.

(As she looked around 1948)

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Since the twin units #1 and #1A are considered to be one locomotive, most of the detailed specifications in drawings and articles are given for the two units together.  Here, all the information is shown per unit:

Main engines:	2 diesel engines (EMC-Winton) @ 900 hp,
			total per unit: 1800 hp;
			12 cyls., bore 8”, stroke 10”;
			code: 201-A (this engine was also available as
			8 cyls. w/600 hp and 16 cyls. w/1200 hp).

Auxiliary engine:	1 diesel engine w/90 hp;
			6 cyls., bore 5.25”, stroke 7”.

Main generator:		1 Type: GT-535-B2, GE, 600 V, 750kW.

Aux. generator:		1 Type: GT-1127-K1, GE, 76 V, 10 kW.

Traction motors:	4 Type: GE-716-C2, gear ratio 2.5 to 1.

Wheels:			Rolled steel, diameter 36”

Maximum speed:		98 Mph

On 12 Aug 2003, I received eBay Item #2184146168 which I'd won, a tearsheet from a 1938 British encyclop(e)(æ)dia with the beginning of an article on "The Fastest Train in the World".  That title belonged (then) to the Santa Fé's Super Chief, running 202.4 miles from La Junta to Dodge City in145 minutes for an average speed of over 83½; mph.  The record had been held by Germany's Flying Cologner running 157 miles between Berlin and Hanover at an average 82½.  This AT&SF run reduced the coast-to-coast time to under forty hours.  That Super Chief was drawn by (no fair - you guessed) none other than the AT&SF Twins and there is a photo of the train, apparently on its maiden run or some such, as well as one of the Flying Cologner's competitor, the Flying Hamburger, running between (no fair - you guessed again!) Berlin and Hamburg:   (26 Aug 03)

 
[Thumbnailed images; click on the pictures for larger images (without moiré patterning)]

EMC also made four other units in this series but they were the Burlington's 600HP (later 900HP) Budd-bodied stainless steel streamlined Zephyrs, not by any stretch boxcabs.