Diesel of the Day 7/5: EMD F7

Several of you may recognize today’s diesel, or at least a similar model, as it’s what many people think of first when someone says ‘train’. The EMD F7A and its trademark ‘bulldog’ nose are known around the world. This was one of the first diesels to become popular during the age of steam locomotives, and its popularity helped banish steam from mainline freight service. EMD built over 2,300 of them between 1949 and 1953. This locomotive is powered by an EMD 16-567B 1,500 horsepower two-stroke V16, and like most early EMD diesels is Roots blower supercharged, rather than turbocharged. Late-model units were built with the newer 567C engine. To add pulling power on long freight trains, EMD also offered a cabless ‘booster’ F7B, that matched up with the lines of the leading unit. The F7 looks similar to the longer, twin-engine passenger diesels, called E units, but are primarily designed to haul freight. The last locomotives of this design were made in the early 1960s and few remain in revenue service, though dozens and dozens of them operate in museum and tourist train service today. Because there are countless photos online of clean and shiny F units, I chose a photo that shows one with a hearty working patina, in this case on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1965. Incidentally, the C&O is one of the railroads that merged to form modern-day CSX, and is where the ‘C’ in CSX comes from.