The EMD F2 was a freight-hauling diesel locomotive

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

 built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between July 1946 and November 1946. It succeeded the FT

EMD FT

The EMD FT was a diesel-electric locomotive produced between November 1939, and November 1945, by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division . All told 555 cab-equipped A units were built, along with 541 cabless booster B units, for a grand total of 1,096 units. The locomotives were all sold to...

 model in GM-EMD's F-unit

EMD F-unit

EMD F-units were 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...

 sequence, and was replaced in turn by the F3

EMD F3

The EMD F3 was a , B-B freight- and passenger-hauling diesel locomotive produced between July 1945 and February 1949 by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant...

. The F2 was in many respects a transitional type between those two; it kept the 1350 hp rated D8 generator from the FT due to late development of the new D12 generator intended for the F3, but in a revised carbody design and internal layout that would be continued through the rest of the F-unit series. 74 cab-equipped lead A unit

A unit

An A unit, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive equipped with a driving cab, or crew compartment, and the control system to control other locomotives in a multiple unit, and therefore able to be the lead unit in a consist of several locomotives controlled from a single position...

s and 30 cabless booster B unit

B unit

A "B" unit, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive unit which does not have a driving cab, or crew compartment, and must therefore be controlled from another, coupled locomotive with a driving cab . The term booster unit is also used. The concept was largely confined to North America...

s were produced.

There are no reliable recognition features for an F2. They were built with what has become known as 'Type 1' side panels, with three portholes and no filter grilles, but this was carried over into early F3 production and in any case could be changed later by the owning railroad. Like most F3s, they were built with small side numberboards. They, and all subsequent F-units, are readily distinguished from the FT by having two exhaust stacks instead of four, and by having no large overhang on the end of the B units, while the trucks were a little further away from the other ends.

They also had four radiator

Radiator (engine cooling)

Radiators are used for cooling internal combustion engines, mainly in automobiles but also in piston-engined aircraft, railway locomotives, motorcycles, stationary generating plant or any similar use of such an engine....

 fans at the center of the unit next to each other in line on the roof instead of two at each end. This external feature was the result of a major change in internal arrangement, the replacement of all mechanical and belt-drives for radiator fans and traction motor

Traction motor

Traction motor refers to an electric motor providing the primary rotational torque of a machine, usually for conversion into linear motion ....

 blowers with electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

s. Power for these accessories was produced by a new D14 three phase alternator

Alternator

An alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current.Most alternators use a rotating magnetic field but linear alternators are occasionally used...

 built into the main DC generator, called a “companion alternator”. This device has been used in all later EMD road locomotives to the present.

No F2's survive today.

Original owners

Railroad	Quantity A unit A unit An A unit, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive equipped with a driving cab, or crew compartment, and the control system to control other locomotives in a multiple unit, and therefore able to be the lead unit in a consist of several locomotives controlled from a single position... s	Quantity B unit B unit A "B" unit, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive unit which does not have a driving cab, or crew compartment, and must therefore be controlled from another, coupled locomotive with a driving cab . The term booster unit is also used. The concept was largely confined to North America... s	Road numbers A units	Road numbers B units	Notes
Atlantic and East Carolina Railway	2	—	400–401	—
Atlantic Coast Line Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...	12	12	324–335	324B–335B
Boston and Maine Railroad Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Corporation , known as the Boston and Maine Railroad until 1964, was the dominant railroad of the northern New England region of the United States for a century...	18	3	4224A–4226A, 4250–4264	4224B–4226B
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington or as the Q, the Burlington Route served a large area, including extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri,...	10	–	150A–154A, 155C–159C	—
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.-Incorporation:...	12	—	38–49	—
Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway The Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway was an American Class I railroad that built and operated lines radiating south and west from Minneapolis, Minnesota which existed for 90 years from 1870 to 1960....	2	1	147A,C	147B
New York Central Railroad New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...	2	—	1604–1605	—
Southern Railway (Alabama Great Southern Railroad Alabama Great Southern Railroad The Alabama Great Southern Railroad is a railroad in the U.S. states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It is an operating subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation , running southwest from Chattanooga to New Orleans through Birmingham and Meridian... )	2	—	400–401	—
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, was Mexico's state owned railroad company from 1938 to 1998, and prior to 1938 a major railroad controlled by the government that linked Mexico City to the major cities of Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juárez on the U.S. border...	14	14	6200A–6213A	6200B–6213B
Totals	74	30