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| EMD F2 | |||||||||||||
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 Rock Island F2 locomotive no. 43 and a contemporary B unit lead a freight train throughJoliet, Illinois, in August 1963 | |||||||||||||
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TheEMD F2 was afreight-haulingdiesel locomotive built byGeneral Motors Electro-Motive Division between July 1946 and November 1946. It succeeded theFT model in GM-EMD'sF-unit sequence, and was replaced in turn by theF3. The F2 was in many respects a transitional type between those two; it kept the 1,350 hp (1,010 kW) rated D8 generator from the FT due to late development of the new D12 generator intended for the F3, but in a revised carbody design and internal layout that would be continued through the rest of the F-unit series. 74 cab-equipped leadA units and 30 cabless boosterB units were produced.
There are no reliable recognition features for an F2. They were built with what has become known as 'Type 1' side panels, with three portholes and no filter grilles, but this was carried over into early F3 production and in any case, could be changed later by the customer. Like some early F3s, they were built with small side number boards on the nose. They, and all subsequent F-units, are readily distinguished from the FT by having two exhaust stacks instead of four, and by having no large overhang on the end of the B units, while the trucks were a little further away from the other ends.
They also had fourradiator fans at the center of the unit next to each other in line on the roof instead of two at each end. This external feature was the result of a major change in internal arrangement, the replacement of all mechanical and belt-drives for radiator fans andtraction motor blowers withelectric motors. Power for these accessories was produced by a new D14three phasealternator built into the main DC generator, called a “companion alternator”. This device has been used in all later EMD road locomotives to the present.
All F2's were scrapped, making them the only EMD F-unit model with no extant examples.
EMD built 104 F2 locomotives: 74A units and 30B units. Nine railroads purchased A units; of these, four purchased B units. The most significant buyers were theFerrocarriles Nacionales de México,Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, andBoston and Maine Railroad, which purchased 28, 24, and 21 locomotives, respectively.[1]
