S. Berliner, III's EMD Page keywords = EMD EMC Electro Motive Division Corporation General Motors Locomotive Group model rail road train Z HO scale
Updated: 19 Aug 2007, 21:20 ET
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S. Berliner, III's

EMD Page

Consultant in Ultrasonic Processing
"changing materials with high-intensity sound"
Technical and Historical Writer, Oral Historian
Popularizer of Science and Technology
Rail, Auto, Air, Ordnance, and Model Enthusiast
Light-weight Linguist, Lay Minister, and Putative Philosopher

EMD - Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc.

The Phœnix rises!

(24 May 05)

Formerly the EMD - Electro-Motive Division of General Motors Corporation -
The General Motors Locomotive Group
and before that
EMC - Electro-Motive Corporation
and originally
Electro-Motive Engineering.

This page has now been visited times since the counter was installed.

NOTE: Page size is limited by HTML to some 30kB; thus, I was forced to add this page and separate pages to fit the lengthy Berlinerwerke sagas (HO and Z scales).

NOTE: I regret that some of my internal links refuse to work; if they don't, please click "Back" and scroll.

For other pages on railroading see my railroad and my ALCo pages.

For model railroading, start with my Model Railroading page.

EMC/EMD

An investment group headed by Greenbriar Equity Group LLC and Berkshire Partners LLC announced 04 Apr 2005 that they had completed purchase from GM of the assets of GM's former Electro-Motive Division, now to be known as:

Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc.

(24 May 05)

The transfer includes the manufacturing facilities at LaGrange, Illlinois, and London, Ontario.

More information on the new EMD can be found on theiir website at:

http://www.EMDiesels.com.

The SD80MAC and SD90MAC are no longer shown (just the SD70M-2 and SD70ACe) but the first passenger locomotive shown is the Long Island Rail Road's DM/DE30AC!

Electro-Motive Corporation was an early builder of gas-electric railcars, later adding locomotives; in fact, I'm not quite sure why I'm not as interested in gas boxcabs as in oil/diesel-electric boxcabs. Nevertheless, EMC was founded in 1922 by H. C. Hamilton, President, who had been in the heavy autotruck business, and Paul Turner; Hamilton brought in such heavy talent as C. F. ("Boss") Kettering (later to head GM) and Richard Dilworth (GM's Chief engineer from 1934). Kettering and his son, Eugene W. Kettering, designed the GM 567 engine that really made the diesel-electric locomotive what it is today and Dilworth put it in the early main-line and switching engines.

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.

EMC's early, and very interesting, boxcabs are rather heavily covered on my various ALCo-GE-IR boxcab pages, q.v., and especially on my Other Boxcabs page.

(courtesy of the San Diego Railroad Museum/Pacific Southwest Railway Museum -
all rights reserved)

The story of B&O #50 (later Alton, then GM&O, #1200), 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). This is #511 in her EMC livery (with #512 peeking out at left):

EMC #511 Demonstrator
(provenance lost)

Here, by permission of the San Diego Railroad Museum/Pacific Southwest Railway Museum, are the EMC #512 (r.) and #511 (l.) on trial.
:

(courtesy of the San Diego Railroad Museum/Pacific Southwest Railway Museum -
all rights reserved)

These 1,800-hp passenger boxcabs, virtually identical to #50, were scrapped in 1938. 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.

[Thanks to Mark Laundry for this information.]

Then EMC built nine boxy-cab units for SF and CB&Q in 1935-36 (see Pinkepank/Marre) and two 1,000hp E6 boxcabs (yes, Virginia, E6 boxcabs!) - see my Other Boxcabs page.

I finally found the photos I took of LIRR Power Pack #622 (a Nov 1950 F7a, s/n 12626, heavily modified for HEP service on push-pulls) up at Danbury, Connecticut (of all places), when the NRHS/LIST fan trip stopped there in late 1990; I happened to be in the front vestibule on the return trip and noticed that the dual headlight housing had a most interesting "Chinese" or "hieroglyphic" emblem on each side of the front face of the casting:

(Photo ca. Oct 1990 by and © Copyright 1990, 2001 S. Berliner, III - All rights reserved.)
{Images lost; restored 01 Dec 02}

These are details of details of details! The resolution of the original photo was good but the third generation enlargement suffers greatly from pixellation; nevertheless you should be able to make out the characters in the third shot (enlarged, cropped and turned 90° counter-clockwise) as _EM _C, even though the "E" is very dimly delineated.

An EMC casting on a 1950 EMD loco? ¡Muy loco!

See "Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years - A Guide to Diesels Built Before 1972, by Louis A. Marre, Railroad Reference Series No. 10, Kalmbach Publishing Corp., 1995, ISBN 0-89024-258-5, for great coverage of early EMC/EMD locos; this and other references may be found on my Boxcabs Bibliography.

Anent EMC and the B&O Museum, while there photographing boxcab loco CNJ #1000, the first commercial oil (diesel)-electric, I spotted the nose of early (the very first) 1937 EMC EA, B&O #51, inside the shop undergoing restoration and was able to take these poor pix through the door:

(Photos 09 Jun 1999 by and © Copyright 1999 S. Berliner, III - All rights reserved.)
[Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images]

That EA, the first of six, #51-56, led to the immensely-popular E3, E6, E7, E8, and E9 series.

I owed you folks a page on my wide-cab, cowl-bodied EMD models and fantasies thereupon. You had my permission to nag me about them.

Among the many items were to be the (tall) stories (with pictures as soon as I could get my scanner running again or my digital camera cranking) of the:

F4.5 (B)

FP4.5 (C)

F45B (C-C)

DDP45 (D-D)

DDP50 (C-C+C-C)

TDP45 (C-C-C-C)

F50 (C-C)

FP50 (C-C)

FP90MAC (C-C)

etc.

See my Model Railroading pages for some of this; you can get a peek at them on my BW (HO) Saga.

Rather than hold you up, I have decided to publish the text of an incomplete article (with only partial illustrations) of the story of the BIG BOY II - THE LEGENDARY DDP45:

{DRAFT}

Original Date: 24 Apr 1994 - Last Major Revision: 23 Oct 1997 - Effective Date: 11 Jul 1999

BW Hist. Bulletin

BIG BOY II - THE LEGENDARY DDP45

(20 Years Later)

S. (Sam) Berliner, III

But first, here she is in all her damaged glory:

[Please don't ask what happened to the mechanism between the trucks and the chassis!
Turns out to be flash reflecting off the gearbox sideframes (which aren't quite all that rusty)!]

See below for modeling info.

It occurs to me, what with all the wonders of the Berlinerwerke over which there has been so much written, that there has never been an article about the first special BW rail vehicle ever publicly shown (there IS one earlier one, a veritable chef d'oeuvre, un veritable pièce de résistance, yet unfinished, that only the late, great Ira Rothberg was ever privileged to see and, as far as I know, he won't tell).

First conceived on 20 January 1974, detailed on 21 January 1974, and drawn on 22 January of that year, the DDP45 was actually started on 15 November and final assembly occurred on 04 April 1975. After a shakedown run around the Berlinerwerke system, the prime coat was applied on 05 April. One assumes, from the incomplete records of that latter date, a Saturday, and the propensity of the owner of the Berlinerwerke to such last-minute feats, that a meet of the Sunrise Trail Division of the Northeast Region of the National Model Railroad Association occurred on 05 April 1975 at which the engine was first shown.

The idea sprang from the success of the original Union Pacific/Alco (American Locomotive Company) Challenger 4-6-6-4 and Big Boy 4-8-8-4 locomotives in the 1940's, followed by the series of oil and coal turbine engines in the 50's. Giant power always fascinated the UP management and they went at it one last time in 1963 with a competition for a series of double-engined diesel behemoths from ALCo, General Electric, and the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. GE's contribution was the U50, basically a pair of 2,500HP FDL-16-engined U25s on a single chassis riding on four four-wheel trucks with two pairs each under span bolsters (all recycled from GE gas turbines). Some 15+ U50 units, both cab and booster units, were built in UP's 31-series. In 1964, Alco chimed in with two huge C-855s and a C-855B, also on paired four-wheel trucks and powered by two 2,750HP 251C engines. Only the one A-B-A set, UP 60-60B-61, was built. EMD, however, responded more positively to the challenge with the gigantic 1964 DD35, a cabless double GP-35 booster powered by two 2,500HP 567D3A diesels. Most unique of all were the enormous D-D (four-axle) trucks. In 1965, EMD broke with its announced intention and came out with the cab version, the DD35A. Over 28 booster units and 15 cab models were built, SP's 8400 - 8402 and UP's 72B - 94B and the 71-series. In 1966, EMD catalogued, but never built, a 645-engined DD-40 cab unit.

Later, timed to coincide with the centennial of the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory, Utah, in 1969, EMD produced the last of the breed, the fantastic DDA40X "Centennial" locomotives, with two 3,300HP 645 engines, a full-width cowl-type cab, and the prototype of the Dash 2 modular electronic control system. These monsters rode on updated D (four-axle) trucks, separated by a staggering 8,280 gallon fuel tank. Not to be left out, GE brought out a less spectacular (and less successful) six-axle (C-C) version of its U50 in, the U50C, of which some 40 were built from 1969 to 1971 in UP's 5000-series. 47 EMD DDA40X units were built as UP 6900 and up. The 6900 is preserved in running condition with the venerable 4-8-4 Northern 844 and 4-6-6-4 Challenger 3985 at UP's Cheyenne roundhouse (and the 6946, built 9-1971, b/n 35520, last of 47 "Centennial" locomotives constructed, was donated by UP to the Feather River Rail Society and sits at their Portola Railroad Museum in the high Sierras).

About this time, the UP was giving up on giant power as not sufficiently cost-effective. Some stalwarts in the Motive Power Department, however, asked EMD to consider a double version of the 3,600HP 645F-engined SD45. EMD declined, stating low profits forecast for another special design, and referred the UP team to the Berlinerwerke, with which EMD had a close working relationship. Using a maximum of standard EMD components, the BW staff quickly came up with specifications for the biggest, most powerful single-chassis locomotive of all time. Instantly dubbed the "Big Boy II", the DDP45 design was soon completed and a prototype begun as noted above at the beginning of this article. To get some idea of the relative size of these giants, let's compare a few of them:

		O'all		Wheel				Cooper's
		Length		base 		Weight		Loading
Big Boy 4-8-8-4	 85' 3½"*	47'  3"*	772,000	
DD35		 88' 2"	55'					E-90
DDA40X		 98' 5"	65'	65'		545,432		E-90
DDP45		117'		83' 10"				E-90

* - Big Boy length without tender (130' 9½" overall), driver wheelbase 
	(72' 5½" total engine wheelbase and 117' 6 " overall wheelbase).

		{additional data to follow}

The DDP45 uses two standard EMD D trucks with heavier journals, spanning two pairs of DD35 fuel tanks (it was felt that it was safer and less expensive to have multiple smaller tanks). A major difference was that the body has a full cowl; the body is made from (front-to-rear) a standard F45 cab and cowl, a reversed FP45 cowl, and an FP45 rear with steam generator.

[This is a change (02 Feb 99) from previous text;
preparation of a new drawing revealed that the front was NOT an FP45
and the center NOT an F45.]

As a result of the technical (if not economic) success of the DDP45, the Berlinerwerke designed and built several other full-cowl locomotives in this series, utilizing components from the other locomotives, from the diminutive V-2 powered F4.5 and FP4.5 through the 20-cylinder F50 and FP50 and a double version, the DDP50 on four span-bolstered six-axle trucks, and a virtually incomprehensible TDP45 articulated triple diesel on four talgo-style six-axle trucks. The latest of all is the new FP90MAC; a full-cowl, 6,000-hp passenger hauler, complete with steam generator, designed by the Berlinerwerke staff and built in conjunction with GM/EMD to pull trains of restored heavyweight cars on transcontinental luxury fantrips. All of these latter units have been erected but none fully completed and tested to date; nevertheless, members of the Sunrise Trail Divison will be the first to be plagued (oops - I mean honored) by the display of these further outstanding examples of the art of locomotive engineering.

Speaking of engineering, it might be of interest to compare the technical specifications of these units with some of the newest power available today. Morrison- Knudsen, a well-respected rebuilder, went all-out in 1994 and put out an all-new single-engine locomotive, the MK5000C, rated at a whopping 5,000-hp! Both GE and EMD jumped on the bandwagon with an entirely new generation of 6,000-hp single-engine locomotives which purport to have solved problems of power, steering, tracking, and adhesion. Specifications (as available) for some of these follow:

		 Overall	 Wheel							Wheel	Fuel,
		 Length		 base 		  Weight	HP		Cyl.	Dia. 	Gals.
Big Boy 4-8-8-4	 85' 3½"	 47' 3"¹	  772,000	6,000		2x2	68"	tbs.
 (with tender)	142' 4½"	129' 1½"	1,200,000				   (oil equiv.)
Centipede(orig)	 91' 6"			     	 ~600,000	8x750		8x8		
DD35		 88' 2"	55'					2x3,000		2x16		???
DDA40X		 98' 5" 	65'		  545,432	2x3,300		2x16	40"	8,200
DDP45		117'		83' 10"				2x4,500		2x20		2x???
Dash 8-44CW	 71' 8" (?)					4,400		 16		
Dash 9-44CW	 73' 2" 	46'  3"		  408,000	4,400		 16		
AC4400CW	 73' 2"		46'  3"		  412,000	4,400		 16		
AC6000CW	 76'						5,500/6,000	 16	42"	
MK5000C								5,000		 16		
SD60M		 71' 2"				  400,000	3,800		 16	42"	
SD70MAC		 72' 4"				  415,000	4,000		 16	42"	
SD80MAC (CR)	 80' 2"		54'  2"		  415,000	5,000		 20	44"²	5,800    
SD9043MAC (UP³)	 80' 2"		54'  2"		  415,000	4,300/6,000	 20/16	44"	5,800
SD90MAC		 80' 2"		51'  6.7"	  415,000	6,000		 16	44"	5,800
FP90MAC		 80' 2"		52'  7"		  425,000	6,000		 16	45"	4,800⁴

{additional data to follow}

and who can even guess as to what's coming next?

NOTES:
¹ - Driver wheelbase only (overall engine wheelbase = 72' 5½").
² - Reported in Model Railroader, April 1997, Page 92, as 45"(?).
³ - 20-cylinder 2-cycle engines to be replaced with 16-cylinder 4-cycle engines.
⁴ - Compartmentalized, with 1,000 gallons of water for steam generator.

Unchecked DRAFT only!

Now, for the modeler, here are some of the most useless photos ever taken! With two floods, it still came out all black; Floquil black is really BLACK!

The first is the chassis without the body, showing the brass channel I used to join the front 2/3 and the back 2/3 of two Athearn so-called DD40s and the Plastruct "prototypical" side reinforcing frames I crafted. I even took a close-up to show how I milled the frames to accept the two outboard flywheels, as well as the spacing of the two sets of fuel tanks (fuhgeddaboudit!):

You can see that there are FOUR flywheels!

Here is the inside of the chassis, showing the machine screws which I ran up through the extra motor mount holes, the heads of others I ran down through the channel into threaded holes in the tanks, and the extent of the chassis milling:

You can see some of the the screws alongside the inner flywheels,
and you can even make out the fuel tank spaces at the top of the picture!

Next, I'll show you the underside of the chassis, so you can see the screw heads deep up inside the motor mount holes and the threaded holes through the fuel tanks:

Look closely and you can see some of the screws, about a third of the way in from the right.

OK, now let's turn to the underside of the body to see how that was built of an F45 front, a reversed FP45 center, and an FP45 rear:

You can barely see the small Plastruct blocks at each end to locate the body vertically on the chassis,
the blocks and splice plates at the center and end joints,
and the gussets at the juncture of the top and sides at the center joint
(dark, thick, vertical lines in the center "H").

[These photos were appallingly dark but a bit of image processing on 20 Jan 01 brought out the latent details.]

DDP45 Body - top

On top, looking

from front to rear;

get a load of all those fans!

And this is only the

DDP45! You should

see the DDP50!

A drawing will follow; I made one in January 1974,

before building the model, but the line work is so

fine and worn that I can't reproduce it.

Now, if you like that (the DDP45), you should see Jeff Mott's EMD TD60. (19 Aug 07)

Karen Parker, RR historienne sans égale, was poking around in the Berlinerwerke files again and turned up a photo of UP/BW DDDDP45 #7100; here, with some very minor, but able, assistance from the BW Art Dept., it is, in all its glory:

Karen then turned up this fabulous shot of the TDP-45 running in classic Santa Fé passenger warbonnet trim (which is a neat trick, since I never finished it):

I thumbnailed that one so you can see the attention to detail and the pains to which Karen went. You go, girl!

Karen is indefatigable; she dug further into the BW files under SF and found (with a little help) these photos of the AT&SF warbonnetted F-55 and FP-55:

These were based on the 5,000HP V-24 that was, in turns, derived from the 4,600HP V-22 engines in the F/FP-50 and those from the 4,200HP V-20 experimental engine in the SD-45X. The DDP-55, a stretched, slight variant of the FP-55, with five cooling fans á là F-55 and a larger fuel tank with a water tank behind it and dual steam generators á là SDP-40F was also made:

I'd forgotten that CSX also had the F-55; they termed it a DD-55; Karen turned up this photo:

Back to the real world; Karen shot this F-40C in 1976 while waiting to catch the North Coast Limited:

GIANT DIESEL ARTICLES

(the diesels, not the articles!):

"EMD's Big Boy" {SD90MAC}, TRAINS, Sep.97, pp. 38-45.

"Sorting out those Super Cabs, Part One: General Motors Locomotive Group" {EMD}, Jim Boyd, RAILFAN & RAILROAD, Jun 97, pp. 28-37.

"The Race for 6000 Horsepower" (survey), RAILFAN & RAILROAD, May 97, pp. 28-37.

SD80MAC (plans), RMC, Apr 97, pp. 61-66.

SD80MAC (plans), MR, Apr 97, pp. 88-92.

SD70MAC, RMC, Dec 96, pp. 68-74.

AC6000CW (plans), MR, Sep 96, pp. 78-86.

"Horsepower Wars" (survey), TRAINS, Sep 96, pp. 34-41.

older - see DDA40X, DD35, U30C/B, C430/424, Centipede, etc., in bibliographies and indices.

More to follow (with drawings and photos) - I promise!

For excellent line drawings from which to make your own kit-botching projects,
visit Joshua Moldover's outstanding Railroad Paint Shop.

In all this, I completely forgot about one of my favorite locos, the little EMC SW-1 switcher! This is a purely esthetic thing; it was puny but I like it's looks, with the single stack and those two step-cum-battery-cum-equipment boxes fore and aft. Here, from the Website of the Gopher State Railway Museum is their NSP #4 (which started out in 1940 as the CB&Q's #9146 and, after many other lives, ended up at GSRM in 1999):

Yes, that's Reddy Kilowatt on the cab, N.S.P.'s mascot! N.S.P. is Northern States Power (now Xcel Energy) {no, it's NOT Nova Scotia Pudding or National Sasketchewan Peanuts}. I am informed that you've never heard such a sweet sounding engine (and it's over 60 years old)!

Now, if you want to see more of the development of the SW-1, see Mark Laundry's drawings of the SW-13 series on my Berlinerwerke Guest Apocrypha page.

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S. Berliner, III

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