Top Three Most Powerful F-M Passenger Diesels
Top Three Most Powerful F-M Passenger Diesels
To complement the top three most powerful Fairbanks-Morse freight locomotives, let’s go over the top three F-M passenger diesels. As usual, we’ll start from third place.
The Bronze Medal of Passenger Power is going to the rare P-12-42 “Speed Merchant”. Only four units were ever built by F-M in 1958: two for the New Haven Railroad and another two for the Boston & Maine. Each pair was designed to be operated at both ends of the experimental high-speed TALGO train, assembled by the American Car & Foundry for the same railroads. The P-12-42 was propelled by an eight-cylinder, opposed-piston diesel engine, which could produce up to 1,720 horsepower. Of the total output, 1,200 hp was required for the two traction motors (front truck only), and the remainder went to auxiliary systems such as electricity for the passenger cars. The Speed Merchant also had an unusual B-2 wheel arrangement, meaning two powered axles on the front truck and two non-powered axles on the rear truck. Additionally, the New Haven units were fitted with contact shoes for third-rail operation in New York City.
I’m going to put two separate F-M models in second place, so the Silver Medal of Passenger Power is going to the six-axle Erie-Built and the Consolidation Line’s five-axle CPA-20-5, both of which had 10-cylinder OP engines. The Erie-Built’s formal designation is unknown, but it was the only F-M model built at the General Electric locomotive factory in Erie, Pennsylvania. While it rode on a pair of A1A trucks (meaning one non-powered center axle of each truck), it is fairly distinguishable from other diesels with its boat-shaped nose and large radiator grilles. The 2,000-hp Erie-Builts were produced between 1945 and 1949. On the other hand, the CPA-20-5 C-Liner also had 2,000 hp, but rode on an unusual B-A1A wheel arrangement. This means two powered axles on the front truck and the aforementioned A1A truck at the rear. The Erie-Builts were sold to seven railroads whereas the CPA-20 was built solely for the Long Island Rail Road in 1950.
Finally, the Gold Medal of Passenger Power is going to another C-Liner: the CPA-24-5. With a 12-cylinder OP engine, this C-Liner was rated at 2,400 hp, the same power output as from the six-motor H-24-66 “Train Master”. Although the CPA-24 had the same prime mover, it had two traction motors on the front B truck and another two on the rear A1A truck. It was introduced in 1951, two years before the Train Master debuted. Three railroads bought the CPA-24: Long Island, New Haven, and New York Central.
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