EMD FTA & FTB Sets

Technical Specifics

The EMD FT emerged from the Electro-Motive Corporation's ambition to prove that diesel-electric power could supplant steam on heavy freight assignments. The four-unit demonstrator set, completed in late 1939, toured railroads across the United States over the following year, accumulating thousands of miles across mountain grades, desert stretches, and flatland main lines. This tour served as a prolonged audition, and the results persuaded a skeptical industry that diesel traction was not merely viable for passenger service but could handle the most demanding freight operations. The demonstrator set was eventually sold to the Southern Railway in May 1941, after its prototype engines had been replaced with production-specification powerplants. Commercial production began with units delivered to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in late 1940 and early 1941, and that road ultimately became the largest operator of the type. The Santa Fe's particular operating environment, with long desert divisions where water for steam locomotives was scarce and expensive to supply, made the FT especially attractive, and the War Production Board recognized this when allocating wartime locomotive production. Because Electro-Motive was exclusively a diesel builder, it was permitted to continue FT production throughout World War II while competing manufacturers such as Baldwin and Alco were largely restricted from building diesel road locomotives until early 1945. This circumstance gave EMD an enormous competitive advantage in the postwar market, as the company emerged from the war years with a mature and proven product while rivals scrambled to develop comparable diesel road locomotives under intense pressure. Production of the FT continued until November 1945, with a total of 555 cab-equipped A units and 541 cabless B units completed, all of them sold to American railroads. The FT's legacy extends well beyond its production numbers. It fundamentally altered the trajectory of American railroad motive power by demonstrating conclusively that diesel-electric locomotives could handle tonnage freight at a lower operating cost than steam. The Blomberg B truck introduced with the FT became EMD's standard freight truck and remained in use for decades afterward. The 567 series engine that powered the FT continued in production until 1966, evolving through successive variants to power much of EMD's postwar locomotive output. Railroad historians widely regard the FT as one of the most consequential locomotive designs ever built, marking the point at which the transition from steam to diesel in the United States became effectively inevitable.

Prototype Reference

Real-world information about this equipment type