EMD E8

EMD E8

Rock Island E8 #652, operated by Midland Railway of Baldwin City, Kansas.

Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) Model E8 Build date August 1949 – January 1954 Total produced 450 A units, 46 B units

Specifications AAR wheel arr A1A-A1A Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Trucks EMD Blomberg A-1-A passenger Wheel diameter 36 in (914 mm) Minimum curve 21° (274.37 ft or 83.63 m radius) Length 70 ft 3 in (21.41 m) Width Height 14 ft 7 in (4.45 m) Loco weight A unit: 315,000 lb (143,000 kg), B unit: 290,000 lb (130,000 kg) Prime mover (2) EMD 567B Engine type V12 Two-stroke diesel Aspiration Roots-type supercharger Displacement 6,804 cu in (111.50 L) each Generator (2) EMD D-15-A Traction motors (4) GM D-27-B Cylinders (2) 12

Performance figures Maximum speed 85–117 mph (137–188 km/h) dep on gearing Power output 2,250 hp (1,678 kW) total Tractive effort 56,500 lb (25,600 kg) starting, 31,000 lb (14,000 kg) continuous

Career Locale United States Disposition most scrapped, several preserved

The E8 was a 2,250-horsepower (1,678 kW), A1A-A1A passenger-train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of La Grange, Illinois. 450 cab versions, or E8As, were built from August 1949 to January 1954, 447 for the U.S. and 3 for Canada. 46 E8Bs were built from December 1949 to January 1954, all for the U.S. The 2,250 hp came from two 12 cylinder model 567B engines, each driving a generator to power the two traction motors on one truck. The E8 was the ninth model in the line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units. Starting in September 1953 at total of 21 E8As were built which used either the 567BC or 567C engines.

In profile the front of the nose of E7, E8, and E9 units is less slanted than earlier EMD units, and E7/8/9s (and their four axle cousins, the F-unit series) have been nicknamed “bulldog nose” units. Earlier E-unit locomotives were nicknamed “slant nose” units. After passenger trains were canceled on the Erie Lackawanna in 1970, the E8s were re-geared for freight and were very reliable for the EL. These units were on freight trains until the early years of Consolidated Railroad Corporation ("Conrail").

Units noted with the designation E8m were rebuilt using components from earlier EMC/EMD locomotives. Externally the units look just like E8s. The difference in horsepower produced in these E8m units is because the older generators are reused.

Original owners

Railroad	Quantity A units	Quantity B units	Road numbers A units	Road numbers B units	Notes
Electro-Motive Division (demonstrator)	1	—	5600A	—	to Southern Pacific 6018
Electro-motive Division (demonstrator)	1	—	952	—	to Rock Island 643 1st E8A built
Electro-motive Division (demonstrator)	2	—	810-811	—	to Delaware Lackawanna & Western 810-811
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway	—	2	—	83A–84A	Model E8m
	8	3	2, 4, 5, 82, 84–87	4A, 80A, 82A	Model E8m, rebuilt from E1A and E1B
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad	6	—	532, 544–548	—	532 rebuilt from E7
	1	—	500	—	Model E8m, rebuilt from E3A
Boston and Maine Railroad	1	—	3821	—	to Missouri Pacific 42 in 1962
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	16	—	26,A–32,A, 90,A–96,A	—	Even numbers only; 26,A-32,A were built with 567BC engines.
	5	6	51, 53–56	51X–56X	Model E8m, rebuilt from EA and EB
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad	38	—	9937B, 9938A,B–9948A,B, 9949A, 9964–9977	—
Central of Georgia Railway	2	—	811–812	—
Chicago and North Western Railway	22	—	5019B, 5021A,B–5030A,B, 5031A	5019B rebuilt from E7
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad	13	—	644–656	—	656 is Model E8m
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway	31	—	4000–4030	—
Canadian Pacific Railway	3	—	1800–1802	—	Bought for joint Boston and Maine service in New England; only E-units purchased new by a Canadian railroad. 1800 and 1802 to VIA Rail.
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad	9	—	812–820	—	EMD Demonstrators 810-811 became DL&W 810-811
Erie Railroad	14	—	820–833	—
Fort Worth and Denver Railway	2	—	9981A,B	—
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad,	1	—	100A	—	Model E8m, rebuilt from an ex-B&O EA
Illinois Central Railroad	16	2	4018–4033	4104–4105	4031 and 4109 destroyed in the 1971 Salem, Illinois derailment and retired or scrapped.
Kansas City Southern Railway	4	—	26–29	—
	1	—	23	—	Model E8m, rebuilt from E3A
Louisville and Nashville Railroad	4	—	794–797	—
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad	9	—	106A,B, 107A,B, 131–135	—
Missouri Pacific Railroad	4	—	7018–7021	—	renumbered 38–41
New York Central Railroad	62	—	4036–4095, 4003, 4020	—
Pennsylvania Railroad	74	—	5700A–5716A, 5760A–5769A, 5788A–5799A, 5801A–5810A, 5835A–5839A, 5884A–5899A, 5902A–5905A	—	5762 to New York Central 4097
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad	15	5	1001–1015	1051—1055	1013-1015 were built with 567BC engines
Seaboard Air Line Railroad	11	—	3049–3059	—	to Seaboard Coast Line 588-598
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway	17	—	2006–2022	—	All named after a Kentucky Derby winner, hence the name of their paint scheme
Southern Railway	7	—	2923–2929	—	renumbered 6900-6905, 6916
Southern Railway (New Orleans and North Eastern)	10	—	6906–6915	—	6906-6909 were built with 567BC engines; 6910-6915 were built with 567C engines.
Texas and Pacific Railway	8	—	2010–2017	—	renumbered 30–37
Union Pacific Railroad	18	24	925–942	926B–949B
	—	4	—	922B–925B	rebuilt from E2B
Wabash Railroad	14	—	1003–1015, 1000	—
Totals	450	46

Surviving examples

File:Sep22 0007.jpg

Inside Cab view. The Engineer / Operator position of an E8A

It is estimated that 58 E8s have survived. The former NYC 4085, preserved at the New York Central Railroad Museum, was the lead locomotive on the final eastbound 20th Century Limited. Another surviving E8 is operated by the Midland Railway, in Baldwin City, Kansas. Privately owned, this unit is ex-Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad E8A #652 and is used for special events. NYC 4096, recently restored, is also on display. New York Central 4097, privately owned, is on display at Merli Manufacturing Company in Duanesburg, New York.

Southern Railway E8A unit #6900 is operational at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina. It pulled the Southern Crescent. Southern #6901 is on display in Duluth, GA, at the Southeastern Railway Museum. Another Southern Railway E8 #6913 is being restored at the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum in Oak Ridge, TN for their Southern excursion train. Yet another, Southern #6914, is under restoration at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.

Of the units owned by Conrail, three were saved after their freight-service retirement and went on to be refurbished by the Juniata Locomotive Shops in Altoona, PA for use as Conrail's Office Car Special (OCS) until the merger of 1999. One unit went to CSX, and two were sold off to Bennett Levin, CEO of the Juniata Terminal Company, where they have been overhauled and painted as twin Pennsylvania Railroad E8's. Another, the former EL 833, was purchased by the New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad. The unit was repainted in its original livery as Erie 833, and was on display for a while on the turntable at Port Jervis, NY. In June 2008, two authentic New York Central E8's units (4080 & 4068) were brought to the Medina Railroad Museum in Western New York.

See also

• List of GM-EMD locomotives

References

Bibliography

• Marre, Louis A. (1982). Rock Island Diesel Locomotives - 1930-1980. Railfax, Inc. ISBN 0-942192-00-1.
• Reich, Sy (1973). Diesel Locomotive Rosters – The Railroad Magazine Series. Wayner Publications. No Library of Congress or ISBN.

External links

• Midland Railway roster
• Andrew Toppan's list
• CPR Diesel Locomotive Roster