First and Last EMD Locomotives
Before its first factory was constructed in La Grange, Illinois, Electro-Motive contracted with multiple companies for parts supply and car assembly. EMC’s very first passenger railcar, the Chicago Great Western’s M-300, was built by the St. Louis Car Company in Missouri. The next facility to build some early Electro-Motive products was General Electric in Erie, Pennsylvania, about one year before La Grange completed its first locomotive. Among the Erie-built diesels were three boxcabs (two demonstrators and one Baltimore & Ohio unit) and two pre-production switchers for the Lackawanna Railroad.
Here’s a list of the first and last locomotives built in all the factories used by Electro-Motive since 1936. Of particular interest was EMD’s short-lived “Plant 3” in Cleveland, Ohio, the birthplace of the builder. There’s a Classic Trains article about the former Cleveland Diesel facility that was needed to meet numerous locomotive orders during the postwar years, and you’ll see a couple of photos showing the first and last diesels built there. Originally published in an out-of-print special issue, Diesel Victory, the article can be downloaded for free so that you can read more about EMD’s mass production in its hometown.
La Grange, Illinois (1936-1993)
First: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe SC #2301
Last: Metra F40PHM-2 #214
Cleveland, Ohio (1948-1954)
First: Rock Island NW2 #765
Last: Southern Pacific SW900 #’s 4624 and 4625
London, Ontario, Canada (1950-2012)
First: Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo GP7 #71
Last: Union Pacific SD70ACe #8773
Muncie, Indiana (2011-present)
