Was EMD F-7 Demonstrator used in passenger service?

[Isambard]

 

I do not know how many 'Demo' F Units EMD Sent Out, but here is a Image of EMD Fs on a Passenger IN WINTER so Steam would be being used.

January 12, 1950. On CPR, Vancouver, B.C.

Photo From the Internet. Photographer Unknown.

In BRNMA "Canadian Pacific's Big Hill"" by Floyd Yeats, page 11 has a photo of the same demonstrator set (FP7A and two F7B units, Nos. 7001, 7002 and 7003) at Field. It states that these units were on loan to CP between November 30, 1949 and March 13 1950 and eventually ended up on CP's subsidiary the Soo Line as Nos. 2500A, 2500B and 2501B.

I remember as a kid, age 14, going down to the CP station in Moose Jaw late one cold snowy evening, along with a crowd of others, to see what was for most of us our first exciting sight of a streamlined diesel. The colourful demonstrator set, with the prominent GM shield on the nose of 7001, appeared out of the darkness slowly, its headlight lighting up the blowing snow, stopping for a few minutes for the crowd to admire it, before heading west for the first time. A great memory.

[MopacBarrettTunnel]

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Here's a pic of F7 demo # 1950 I found on the North East Rails website.  A sharp eye will spot the steam generator exhaust stack on the rear roof of the B unit.  A sharp eye will also see that the B unit only sports a water tank {painted maroon, unlike the silvered ones on the A's}, with no battery box in front of it.  This was a design quirk EMD held over from the pre-war days; B-units of every type carried no batteries, relying on their mated A-units for electrical needs.  A cost saving measure, but the inflexibility of such an arrangement finally dawned on the builder by the time the GP series was introduced. 

I'm not 100% certain, but I think the F7 demo set EMD sent out in 1952 {to try and garner sales from NKP and N&W, among others} was the only one to actually feature a boiler-equipped A unit {most definitely NOT an FP-7; that much I'm sure about}.  And finally, if you look closely at the coupler area of # 1950, you'll see the steam line curled off to the left of the airbrake line, which is dangling straight down.

[Trainmaster.Curt]

Neat photo, has that old time look, note though the GM letters on the front, at that time, and i think until the late sixties, EMD in Canada was known as General Motors Diesel, London, Ontario. Ltd.   Maker of my favourite locomotive the GMD1.

[spikejones52002]

Not exactly sure what those are in those attached photos.

But that round nosed Brown Box car would look good behind any steam engine.

 

[M636C]

 

Builders often painted demonstrator locomotives in the colours of the railroad they wanted to sell to!

EMD built an SD24 with all the special SP lights and painted grey with a red nose, but SP didn't buy it and it was sold to another road.

EMD painted one of the SD40 prototypes (a test unit, not a demonstrator) in Santa Fe colours, probably to make it LESS obvious.

M636C

[RGeorge]

Appreciate the quick reply, and especially the phot of EMD Demonstrator 1950 with a passenger consist.  Thanks much.

Regards,

RGeorge

 

PS -  Why would a RR go to the trouble of repainting a Demo unit, especially since it is preseumably not yet the property of that respective Road.

 PPS - Any evidence that EMD's F-7 Demonstrators pulled any of the great name trains such as the California Zephyr?

[Anonymous]

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[PBenham]

EMD had a number of F7 demonstrator sets and I know that a set ran on CN in passenger service, wearing CN's GM styling group scheme of mostly olive green with a yellow nose for their freight units. Passenger units had the olive green with black lower body panels with a yellow nose. Don't ask me where the pic is as I can't find it!

Another F7 demonstrator set ran on Great Northern, it was so successful that it was re-lettered for GN before it made the entire round trip from Minneapolis to Seattle!

[Anonymous]

 

I do not know how many 'Demo' F Units EMD Sent Out, but here is a Image of EMD Fs on a Passenger IN WINTER so Steam would be being used.

January 12, 1950. On CPR, Vancouver, B.C.

Photo From the Internet. Photographer Unknown.

[SSW9389]

Good question RGeorge. It is likely that the F7 demo did operate in passenger service. A photo of EMD demonstrator #1950 in Kalmbach's Our GM Scrapbook shows the B unit with a steam generator and the two A units set up with belly water tanks. So my response is that it sure could have.

[wanswheel]

I don't know but here's 2 pictures of a passenger train.

http://67.15.20.45/images/a/ALCO-GE8375powerforprogressNewarkNJ111950drp.jpg.45515.jpg

http://67.15.20.45/images/a/ALCO-GE8375powerforprogressNewarkNJ111950crp.jpg.18075.jpg

Mike

[RGeorge]

Was EMD's F-7 Demonstrator used in passenger service while touring as a demonstrator?  If so, please provide details.

 Many thanks

RGeorge