EMD FP9
Encyclopedia
The EMD FP9 was a 1750 hp, B-B dual-service passenger and 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...

 produced between February 1954 and December 1959 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division, and General Motors Diesel
General Motors Diesel
General Motors Diesel was a Canadian railway diesel locomotive manufacturer.-History:General Motors Diesel, Limited, was created in 1949 as the Canadian subsidiary of the Electro Motive Division of General Motors located in the United States...

. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois
La Grange, Illinois
La Grange, a suburb of Chicago, is a village in Cook County, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 15,608 at the 2000 census.-History:...

 plant, except for Canadian orders, which were assembled by Canadian subsidiary GMD at London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...

. The FP9 was essentially EMD's F9
EMD F9
The EMD F9 was a Diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1953 and May 1960 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and General Motors Diesel . It succeeded the F7 model in GM-EMD's F-unit sequence. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant. The F9 was also...

 locomotive extended by four feet to give greater steam generator
Steam generator (railroad)
Steam generator is the term used to describe a type of boiler used to produce steam for climate control and potable water heating in railroad passenger cars...

 and water capacity for hauling passenger trains. A total of 90 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 were built; unlike the freight series, no 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 sold. Regular F9B units were sometimes used with FP9 A units, since they, lacking cabs, had more room for water and steam generators. The FP9 and its predecessor, the FP7
EMD FP7
The EMD FP7 was a , B-B dual-service passenger and freight-hauling diesel locomotive produced between June 1949 and December 1953 by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant, excepting locomotives destined for...

, were offshoots of GM-EMD's highly successful 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...

 series of cab unit
Cab unit
A cab unit and a carbody unit are body styles of locomotives in railroad terminology. While closely related, they are not exactly the same....

 diesel locomotives.

Identification

Just as in the previous FP7, the FP9's carbody is essentially the F9's with 4 feet (1.2 m) extra added a little behind the cab, just aft of the forward truck. Unlike the FP7, the forward porthole window is relocated so that it is better balanced in the space, but there is still more room between the porthole and the first carbody filter grille behind it; it is just less obvious. As on the F9, there is now a carbody filter grille before the window as well.

Locomotives built by EMD at La Grange, Illinois

Railroad Quantity FP9 Quantity F9B
(where ordered with FP9)
Road numbers FP9 Road numbers F9B !! Notes
Chicago & North Western Railway 
4
4
4051A–4054A
4051B–4054B
Built from trade-in 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...

s
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...

 
25
7010–7034
Saudi Government Railways 
7
1502–1508
Totals 36 4

Locomotives built by GMD at London, Ontario

Railroad Quantity FP9 Quantity F9B
(where ordered with FP9)
Road numbers FP9 Road numbers F9B !! Notes
Canadian National Railway
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

s
43
38
6500–6542
6600–6637
Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 
11
8
1405–1415
1900–1907
Totals 54 46

FP10

FP10 locomotives are not the linear successors of the FP9, as their designation might indicate. The FP10 units were 'built' in the late 1970s by the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad at its Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...

 shops for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...

 using former Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio was a Class I railroad in the central United States whose primary routes extended from Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to St...

 F3 and F7 units. These F3 and F7 locomotives were used by the GM&O and ICG (for a short period) in Chicago-area commuter service and later in freight service until their retirement.

The rebuilding by ICG saw all of the units gain full-length stainless steel air intake grilles, which in many cases replaced the 'chicken wire' appearance which many had during their tenure with the GM&O and ICG. They were also equipped with a 480V HEP
Head end power
Head end power or electric train supply is a rail transport term for the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive at the front or “head” of a train or a generator car, generates all the electricity used for lighting, electrical and other...

 generator at the rear of the locomotive, as well as dynamic brakes, and had their classification lights replaced with large red marker lights which enabled the locomotive to "carry the markers" when operating in push mode.

The FP10 units were never extended beyond their original length, thus making the "P" in their designation misleading. The FP10 designation, like that of the GP10 (also an ICG product) was conceived by ICG and was never sanctioned by EMD, though railroads and rail enthusiasts alike agree on the moniker.

The FP10 locomotives were painted in the MBTA's purple, silver, and yellow scheme, wearing two variations (one which had two substantial yellow swaths on the nose, and the second which used the yellow only as striping on the nose, as well as the rest of the carbody) of the transit agency's dress. At least one was painted in a scheme that was a "negative" of the conventional scheme, where purple was the primary color and silver taking a secondary role.

During the early 1990s, the FP10s were retired by the MBTA, with four being sold to the Metro North Commuter Railroad (MNCR 410-413), some leased (Cape Cod Central—and eventually resold after that operation ceased) and others being scrapped. In late 1999/early 2000, the last remaining MBTA-owned FP10 units were sold and have operated in Maryland, New Orleans, Georgia, and Idaho on various tourist trains.

See also

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