favorite old EMD

[Anonymous]

SD9 for sure

[Anonymous]

Think this'll even be a contest? Hah! E-9 has SD-9 outnumbered 1-1!!![tup]

[PBenham]

E7s were not as fancy as the pre-war slant nose units E3,4,5,6. However, the E7 performed well up to the end of private passenger service in 1971. I had a lot of favorite E7s,New York Central's were the only ones I recall seeing in their classic "lightning stripe" scheme. The paint on nearly all of the ones I recall were pretty worn out. But NYC wasn't going to paint E7s in 1967, what with Penn Central being fought over in court. I missed the Boston & Maine's, Pennsylvania's (in the five stripe scheme, in Tuscan or Brunswick Green.) For some reason the E7s had a more powerful sound than the E8s. It may have something to do with the E7 having more carbody openings. I doubt the engine change, from 567 or 567A on the E7 to the E8's 567B had anything to do with it.

[Anonymous]

the SD9 has made a comeback

[AltonFan]

The early C-C road switchers look really powerful.

[GN-Rick]

I am partial first to the F3 series. Then F7s. I'd vote for the NW5 as well due
to it's uniqueness except for the fact that it's scarcity prevented much impact
on railroading in general. Even though my railway, GN, owned the majority
of NW5s, they didn't have the impact. GP9s are also a favorite, and they DID
have a huge impact. I do like the SD7/9 series, but there's just something
about covered wagons.

[daveklepper]

I voted for the GP-7/9 because I got to run a GP-7 on a B&M frieght and did some minor preliminary design work for the GP-9. (EMD summer employment between MIT Junnior and Senior years, 1952) But the most beatiful diesel locomotive ever built was clear the Burlington Route's E-5. I'd love to see Union's (Illinois Railway Museum's) Nebraska Zephyr take to the main lines again.

[espeefoamer]

I voted F7.My favorite diesel is actually the FP7.My favorite second generation unit is the SD45.

[David_Telesha]

Where's the FL-9?

Bad poll...

[oldline1]

My favorite old EMD is the BL-2. Kinda grows on you!

 

Roger

[signmasters24]

EMD DDA40X Centennial Locomotives, sorry I love over kill, more power.

[wjstix]

I have to admit liking the FT - a little different than the F's that followed, but still the first really accepted diesel freight engine.

[JonathanS]

The good old GP7.  The first locomotive that GM finally got right.  That is what the railroads really needed rather than a fancy painted billboard.

[zardoz]

SD40-2

Like the Energizer bunny.....they kept going and going and going......AND they were comfortable.

[jimrice4449]

The absolute classic...CB&Q E-5 AB set pulling the 7 car (5 domes) 1947 Twin Zephyr!

[Anonymous]

My favorite "old" EMD is definitly the F3. Mainly because out of all CGWs covered wagons, most were F3s. Also, they were durable as CGW would use every last ounce of tractive effort and then some. Plus, who can forget the chug of a 567 prime mover?

My second favorite is a tie between the NW2 and GP7.

[FullParallel]

I'll second the FL-9 vote!!!!

 

 

Steve L.

[Railfan1]

The SD9 gets my vote!

[enr2099]

GP9, SW1200's, anything with the 567 engine. The old EMD's are the best EMD's; not like the junk they're building now.

[WP 3020]

SD-9 then the SD-45 and 45X.

[Anonymous]

Hello P.  I love all the E's, but did not remember the slant noses as well as the so called "bulldog" noses of the E-7s through 9s. I was born in 1952, and the Southern in Winnsboro and Columbia SC  (where I saw most passenger trains) probably had them replaced there by E-7s and 8's by the late 1950s.  That probably had to do w/ the Augusta Special being combined w/ the Crescent north of Charlotte, as they probably wanted newer power on the Special so as not to hold up the Crescent w/ any power problems due to breakdowns from older units.  But I do remember hearing first what probably were E-6's notching out through Winnsboro and the sound was wonderful.  I could not imagine anyone in Winnsboro concentrating on anything else until it passed, as it sounded so significant.  And it did seem they were a little louder than the 7s and 8s later, but they all had the best locomotive sound I've ever heard.  It had to do w/ the twin motor sound of the 567s, which no F or GP unit could duplicate w/ the single 567.  And the Nathan M-5 horn was a great compliment.  I believe you are right on the louder sound due to more carbody openings. 

I also saw the Seaboard Es in Columbia on the Palmland and sometimes the Silver Metor.  As you probably know, they always ran "elephant style" and I don't remember anything but E-7s.  I know they had some 4s, 6s, 8s and one 9, but I either didn't see them or didn't notice the difference.  The bottom line is I loved them all and wish they still made them today.  Anyway, if we talk again I'd like to tell you about the time the Palmland sprinted by us under a bridge in North Columbia in 1963/about blew me off of it (later!).

 

[JanOlov]

Everything up to the SD-45....

[joseph2]

The NW2 switcher.Because my employer has an ex-Great Northern NW2 I was recently engineer of for a couple of hours.

[MopacBarrettTunnel]

Freight - GP9, 18, or 20, provided it has a factory STANDARD low nose; Phelps-Dodge's early '9 doesn't count (it was a one-off customer's request, as opposed to a standard regular-production feature), nor do the many later "chop jobs" done during rebuilding.  The slanted nose with the step cut-out on the engineer's side, and the number boards above the windshield perfected the look of "everyman's locomotive," to my eyes.  The flat noses of the rebuilds just aren't as racy-looking as EMD's original  standard low nose - and when my beloved Mopac chopped some of their torpedo-tube GP-7's with new nose kits from EMD, perfection was re-defined (IMHO, of course)!!!  The 1959 low-nose design is simply the freight equivalent of the slant-nosed E's, to me.

Passenger - Even though they were long gone before I was born, give me an EA or E-1 any day.  Keeping the original slanted nose free of protruding headlights and number boards sets these two models apart from all the others - the breathtaking lines are free to dazzle, and dazzle they did/do!!  The true beauty of "Form follows Function" started here my friends -  an EA or E1 was the rail Lamborghini of its' day, and hasn't been equalled (let alone surpassed) by ANY other design since.  Had Electro Motive designed the E-8/9 type of large, nearly flush numberboards at the E's genesis (along with keeping all lights flush and free of housings on the later models), the design would have been completely timeless and ageless, even when the slant was blunted by the Bulldog nose.........

On a side note, I DID manage to experience a small bit of the "Winton E-units" magic in a much-removed fashion when my hometown National Museum of Transport re-opened after joining the federal Parks Department in 1980.  The Museum saw fit to fire up Sabine River & Northern Electro-Motive NC #408, and allow the public into the cab.  As a rabidly-enthusiastic 13-year old railfan, I was in hog heaven!!  The 201-A was in desperate need of at least a good ring-job, anong many other things (she smoked constantly the entire time she was fired up), but forget that.  The tired V-12 under her hood was the same one that (in pairs) powered the original E's I had already fallen in love with.  And the single-note air horn, again common to the paired ones of the E's was the icing on the cake.

When my turn in the engineer's seat came, I settled myself in and promptly grabbed the "whistle cord" and peeled off a perfectly-quilled grade-crossing warning.  The Museum supervisor in the cab (a retired Frisco engineer) got quite a kick out of my expertise - "Son, you REALLY know what you're doing, but don't use up all my air, ok?" - and then spent the next 20-odd minutes in deep conversation with me about how wonderful early EMC's were!!!  I'm not shy to say that I held my end up rather well, considering a total lack of direct experience.........

Two final notes - both the Leslie-Tyfon and single-chime Nathan air horns (which EMC used interchangably during the early days) are the sounds one hears frequently when cartoon character Wile E. Coyote chases the Roadrunner.  And finally, the Winton 201-A originated the EMC/D two-cycle "chanting" sound, albeit in a slightly deeper (and slightly rasping) register.

[eolafan]

Difficult choice, there are so very many I would chose from but I am partial to the F units, with the F9 and FL9 on hte top of the list.

[sprulz]

Hi from South Africa.

The spread is so large. Having only been able to view video / DVD, read and view photo, and model EMD in US railroading, SD9, F7 in SP my favourite old oldies.

SD40T my favourite later model.

The whine of the turbo, the grimmy SP loco, and heavy duty mountain railroading make this a sight I would love to have witnessed.

In South Africa we have a number of EMD export versions that perform as expected, and are also proud vesions of the EMD heritage.

 

[SSW9389]

I have to agree with Mopac about the low nosed GP20s. I also prefer its C-C running mate the SD24.

 

Otherwise any tunnel motor on a mountain grade will do.

Freight - GP9, 18, or 20, provided it has a factory STANDARD low nose;

[Trainmaster.Curt]

Well the A1A-A1A light rail GMD1's are a sure fav, and from what i've heard the sole A1A GMD1 is 1063, which was the last CN locomotive to wear the green and gold Glory days scheme.

[MopacBarrettTunnel]

I have to agree with Mopac about the low nosed GP20s. I also prefer its C-C running mate the SD24.

 

Otherwise any tunnel motor on a mountain grade will do.

Freight - GP9, 18, or 20, provided it has a factory STANDARD low nose;

How about Bessemer's Bicentennial-painted SD-18, SSW?  Yeah, the paint was a little gaudy, but the sound of a non-turbo 567 is really what made the early E's, Geeps and SD's so appealing - and the late-model D-1's were the nastiest sounding of them all. 

A lot of the "ear appeal" had to do with carbody ventillation and exhaust arrangements - as carbody-filtration technology advanced, it muffled the sound - and the same went for the exhaust, at least until the MoP, IC/G, SCL, and Precision National (among others) started messing around with hot-rod "liberated exhausts," which not surprisingly mirror EMD's use of the original (four stacks for each prime mover) on the E-3 through 7 - hence their "meaner" sound.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

My choices would be the TR2/TR4 cow-calf for domestic models and the GA8 for exports.