Welcome to Gigant Club's NOHAB-GM page!

This page presents the favourite locomotive type of many railway fans all over Europe.

These locomotives run as MÁV M61 class in Hungary.

Historical data of the GM-EMD locomotives in the USA

Electro Motive Engineering Corporation (EMC) was founded in 1922 by Harold L. Hamilton. With a little group of railway experts he started to work in a little workshop in Cleveland, Ohio. Their first product was a 129-kW gas-electric locomotive. However, it was an unsuccessful design, never sold. It was powered by a 6-cylinder gasoline engine made by Winton Corporation, which had produced marine engines.

EMC started to produce railcars. Their first model was M300 in 1924 with 129 kW output powered by a Winton engine. In the following years several railcars had left the factory, with increasing power. However, the only area where they could challenge the steamers were the branchlines. Their increasing fuel consumption pointed out the urgent need for a new prime mover, which is more suitable for railway purposes. A temporary solution of this problem was applying distillate engines. One of the most famous trainsets in the 30's, the streamlined "City of Celina", for Union Pacific, was provided with such engine made by Winton powered 442 kW. This 3-part trainset could perform 180 km/h speed.

In 1930, EMC and Winton became the subsidiaries of General Motors Corporation. In 1933, engineers of Winton designed a new 2-stroke diesel engine, W201A with unit fuel injectors and scavenging blowers. The engine was available in 8 cylinder linear (442 kW), 12 and 16 cylinder V form versions (662 and 883 kW, respectively). This prime mover was very important in EMC's diesel engine development, it was the basis of the construction of the 567 type engine which can be found in the NOHABs.

In the 30's several trainsets followed the City of Celina, but they were equipped with the new diesel engine. The 8-cylinder version was built in the Zephyr 3-part trainsets for Burlington Railroad in 1934. The "City of Portland" of UP, was equipped with a 16-W201A (883 kW) in 1935, "Flying Yankee" was the duplication of Zephyrs, in 1935 and Illinois Central's "Green Diamond" was also provided with the 16-W201A engine. The UP's "City of Denver" was the first trainset with a rounded nose which is so typical in American locomotive design.

Shunting was the next area of traction where diesel motive power challenged the steamers. Many advantages can be mentioned here: at the low speeds of shunting much less output is needed for the diesel shunter to produce the same tractive effort as a steamer, so the fuel costs are much smaller. During a pause a diesel engine can be shut down and is ready to work within a minute again, in contrast with the steamer where the boiler must be kept under pressure for longer pauses as well. The maintenance costs of the diesel is the half of the steamer's. Working with diesel locomotives is much more cleaner, and the driving is more comfortable for the operating crew.

EMC produced its first shunters with 8-W201A and 12 -W201A engines, outputting 442 and 662 kW.

In 1936, the new factory of EMC, built in La Grange, Illinois, started to work. In the same time, another problem occurred on the road: the trainsets built by EMC formed a complete set, and were not variable in daily service. So, EMC decided to build locomotives which can be used independently. The first two locomotives were No.511 and 512 in 1935. They were equipped with 2 12-W201A diesel engines and General Electric DC transmission and with Bo'Bo' wheel arrangement forming a 118-ton, 1325-kW-diesel locomotive. The demonstration was successful, so Baltimore-Ohio and Santa Fe railroads ordered such locomotives.

On the basis of the experience with these locomotives newer ones were built, namely the first "E"-type locomotives (E is from "Eighteen hundred horsepower"). Each units were equipped with 2 Winton 12-201A engines, each with 662 kW output. This performance allowed this locomotive to haul the passenger trains. The appearance of the locomotives changed much. The drivers'cab was built as high as possible and a rounded "nose" was built on the front of the locomotive. This arrangement was called "streamliner". The locomotives were equipped with 3-axle bogies to reduce axle load and provide better running at higher speeds in passenger service. The locomotives were performed in 2-unit sets to increase tractive effort. Each set contained one "cab" and one "booster" unit (A-B arrangement). Trains could not be driven by an individual booster unit, only from the cab unit.

The first E series were sold in 1937 to Baltimore-Ohio Railroad. Developed versions E1, E2 (in cab-booster-cab, [A-B-A] arrangement) were also ordered that year. The rare TA series for Rock Island Railroad was similar to E, but it was provided with 16-W201A engines with 1766 kW output per unit.

With the occurrence of experience with several locomotives equipped with Winton 201A engines little problems noticed on the prime mover suggested no to develop it further. A need to build a new prime mover was realized. However, experience with Winton 201A engines served as a basis for this development which resulted in the 567 type diesel engine in 1936. This engine type was built only in V-form. Likely to W201A, it was a two-stroke engine with unit fuel injectors (the detailed description of the 567D1 type can be found on the "Description of the NOHAB locomotive" page). The engine was constructed assuming variable bore values by further development but with constant stroke value (10 inches, 254 mm) to obtain complete compatibility for the engine parts. This compatibility is strongly needed assuming mass production. The 567 engines were produced with 8,5 inches (216 mm) bore.

The first 567 engine was a six cylinder V form engine with one scavenging blower. Its output was 442 kW. The 12 cylinder version of this engine found an immediate application in an EMC shunter. In 1938-1939, new E3 and E4 locomotives were built in La Grange for several railroads using 12-567 engines as a prime mover (736 kW output at 750 rpm). As in earlier E series, two diesel engines were built in each unit. These locomotives were the first examples in which a new car body construction (brass system) was applied.

The first locomotives with the new engines performed well, so Electro Motive Corporation was ready to convince railroads to apply diesel locomotives in freight service, too. Following the concept of main constructor Richard Dillworth, a new freight locomotive called FT (F = freight, T = "twenty-seven hundred horsepowers") with 2XBo'Bo' wheel arrangement had been designed in 1938, based on the 16-567 engine (1000 kW at 750 rpm) and the D8 main generator. Its bogies were designed by Martin Blomberg. Each unit weighed 110 tons. The cab and the booster units were connected by a fixed coupler. The appearance of the locomotive was a new design, similar to E-s but with a shorter ("bulldog") nose. This appearance became legendary in American locomotive design. The first two cab-booster sets had left the factory in February 1939. In November, the two sets connected together (A-B-B-A) to produce 4000 kW started to run a 11-month demonstration tour on the lines of 20 railroads of 35 states. During this time they'd ran 83764 miles without problems. In some cases the diesel engines had run for 5 days continuously. This tour was readily successful and proved the advantages of diesel traction in freight service. Santa Fe Railroad was the first to order 2 sets of FTs in 1939 for testing. Between 1940 and 1945 more than 1000 FTs were sold to different railroads. This type was also provided in cab–(short) booster–cab (A-B-A) arrangement with 3312 kW output. In 1941 the 2 demonstrator sets were sold to

From January 1st, 1941 the unity of EMC and Winton is named Electro-Motive Division of General Motors Corporation (GM-EMD).

At that time all basic types of GM-EMD locomotives ran on the rails, the further developments could be started. In 1943 a developed version of the diesel engines was released: 567A type with modified exhaust manifold. In 1945, D12 main generator was had been developed. The new F locomotives were planned to produce with them, but problems occurred with the generator led to a temporary model (F2) equipped with 16-567A diesel engines (1000kW per engine) and D8 main generator. The belt-driven cooling fans were replaced by electric ones, re-designed cooling system and new dynamic brakes were used. The D12 generators were introduced only in November 1946 in F3 locomotives, together with the new 16-567B engines (1104 kW) with improved electric system. These engines can be found in the B2 type switcher which was designed in with sloping car body sides in 1947. From 1945, E7 passenger locomotives were produced with 12-567A engines. These locomotives and the next E series were produced with a shorter nose which had been first introduced on FTs in 1939. In 1947, a new successful type was introduced: F7, with 16-567B engines. The next type, FP7 (FP = freight and passenger) was equipped with a train heating boiler for passenger trains. It's interesting that F9 locomotives for New Haven Railroad were equipped with pick-up shoes for DC from a third rail for serving as electric locomotives to avoid exhaust problems in tunnels and midtown railroad sections in the New York Grand Central area.

In 1949, a new, simpler appearance had been designed: the box type. It was suitable for the mass production of locomotives in greater scale. New locomotive class appeared: the GP type (GP = general purpose).

After the World War II, locomotive export and licensing procedures started to spread the GM-EMD type diesel traction all of the world. In some cases the GM or GM-licensed locomotives could get through the iron curtain as well.

In the fifties, GM-EMD decided to increase the output of its diesel engines in order with the increasing transport rates. In 1954, 567C engine with higher output was introduced (1287 kW). Development of this engine led to the 567D1 (1325-1435 kW) and 567D2 (1472 kW) engines with higher compression ratio. In 1958, the first turbocharged GM engine appeared in service: 16-567D3 with 1766 kW output.

Most of the 645 type engines, with 9 inch bore (230 mm) were also turbocharged (non-turbocharged 645 type engines are working in GP38-2 locomotives). The 16 cylinder version (16-645E3) performed 2208-2430 kW, the 20 cylinder version (20-645E3) performed 2650-2867 kW. It's interesting that Union Pacific's DDA40X Centennial locomotives (Do'Do', length: 30 m, weight: 247 tons) were equipped with two 16-645E3 engines performing 4858 kW. These locomotives had been retired in the mid '80s.

In the '80s the bore of the GM engines was increased again to 9,5 inches (245 mm) designing the 710 type. The turbocharged 16-710G3 engine performs 2797 kW. The newest GM locomotives are equipped with these engines. The DC transmission is replaced by the lighter AC->DC or AC transmission types.

The following table summarizes the main data of some GM main line locomotives in the USA.