EMD E7

The E7 was a Template:Convert, A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. 428 cab versions, or E7As, were built from February 1945 to April 1949; 82 booster E7Bs were built from March 1945 to July 1948. (Circa 1953 one more E7A was built by the Los Angeles General Shops of the Southern Pacific by rebuilding an E2A.) The 2,000 hp came from two 12 cylinder model 567A engines. Each engine drove its own electrical generator to power the two traction motors on one truck. The E7 was the eighth model in a line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units, and it became the best selling E model upon its introduction.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In profile the front of the nose of an E7A was less slanted than on earlier EMD passenger locomotives, and the E7, E8, and E9 units have been nicknamed “bulldog nose” units. Some earlier units were called “shovel nose” units or “slant nose” units.

In film

A Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad E7A, #103-A, appears at the start and end of the 1967 film In The Heat of the Night.

A Southern Pacific E7A, #6001, is on the point of a train that figures prominently in "The Hitch-Hiker", a popular 1960 episode of the anthology television series, The Twilight Zone, starring Inger Stevens. (According to the narration, Steven's character is said to encounter the train somewhere between Pennsylvania and Tennessee, yet the locomotive's number board shows that the train, #99, is the Coast Daylight, which travelled between Los Angeles and San Francisco.)

In the 2010 miniseries The Pacific, filmed in Melbourne, S313, an example of the similar A16C export model, was painted to resemble Louisville & Nashville Railroad E7A 758 for filming, however it retained the livery for a short while after filming wrapped.

Surviving example

Ex-Pennsylvania Railroad E7A #5901 is preserved as the only surviving example of the E7. This locomotive has been cosmetically restored, and is currently on indoor display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.

Original owners

A total of 428 cab-equipped lead A units and 82 cabless-booster or B units were built.Template:Sfnp Approximately thirty railroads purchased A units, B units, or both.Template:Sfnp The single largest buyer was the Pennsylvania Railroad, which purchased 46 A units and 14 B units.Template:Sfnp Other significant buyers included the New York Central Railroad (36 A units and 14 B units),Template:Sfnp Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (44 A units),Template:Sfnp Seaboard Air Line Railroad (32 A units and 3 B units),Template:Sfnp and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (20 A units and 10 B units).Template:Sfnp

See also

• List of GM-EMD locomotives

References

• Template:Pinkepank diesel spotters guide 2
• Template:Wilson-Guide

Further reading

• Template:Dorin-North Western
• Template:Lamb-Evolution
• Template:Marre-diesel-50
• Template:Schafer-Vintage Diesel
• Template:Solomon-American Diesel
• Template:Solomon-EMD Locomotives
• Template:Solomon-Vintage Diesel
• Template:Solomon-Electro-Motive
• Template:Solomon-North American Locomotives
• Template:Wilson-E Units

External links

• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania – #5901 page (Archive of Webpage here.)