General Motor's E series of locomotives.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYpsUgTOiKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzgxM5rSy0I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xVpVhmOChI&t=6s

Picture Credit links:

Old vacuum
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Old_vacuum.jpg

Zepher truck
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pioneer_Zephyr_in_the_Museum_of_Science_and_Industry_(Chicago)#/media/File:Pioneer_Zephyr_bogie.jpg
Santa fe plza taos dome car
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pleasure_Dome_cars#/media/File:Chandler-Arizona_Railway_Museum-Santa_Fe-Plaza_Taos_-1950-Lounge_Room.JPG
MARC e unit
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:EMD_E9_locomotives_of_MARC#/media/File:MARC_69_Point_of_Rocks_July_1994xRP_-_Flickr_-_drewj1946.jpg
GP40 WH-2
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:M-K_GP40WH-2_locomotives_of_the_MBTA#/media/File:MBTA_59_outbound_in_West_Concord.jpg
Maine eastern FL9
commons.wikimedia.org/James Wang CC BY 2.0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maine_Eastern_FL9.jpg

Pioneer Zephy rWinton 8-201A diesel engine.
commons.wikimedia.org/User Alancrh CC BY-SA 4.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Power_room_of_Pioneer_Zephyr#/media/File:CB&Q_Pioneer_Zephyr_engine_room_20180808.jpg

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24 thoughts on “General Motor's E series of locomotives.”

  1. Nice job, Peter! This video confirmed what I always suspected about the E series which is that they were largely too heavy and inefficient when compared to the F units and GP's of the time. Very cool to find out the actual details of their development and lives.

    Reply
  2. The Santa Fe “war bonnet” livery, at least I think is what’s called is such a classic design. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one I like better.
    I’m not a huge rail fan but find the history of railroads interesting,
    We are so fortunate to have had the rail system during WW2, too many people don’t appreciate the contribution rail played. They just bitch about being delayed at crossings……..

    Reply
  3. Very interesting history. The Illinois Railway Museum has an operating C. B. & Q. E-5. It's a very classy-looking locomotive with its long, slanted nose. It and its matching stainless steel train set are a beautiful example of elegant, passenger travel from long ago.

    Reply
  4. I’m 74 now, born in ‘49 in Modesto. Family and friends knew I was nuts as I was constantly drawn to the rails running through town.
    You cover one heck of a lot of locomotive history here and you do it well!
    Thanks!

    Reply
  5. Living in Northern suburbs of Chicago I had the Northwestern and Milwaukee roads to watch back in the fifties and sixties steam was gone streamliners were in service. I rode pullman service north to Michigan's upper peninsula and south to the Gulf coast when I was very young. I saw the Turbo trains come and go I watched as one cleared the Rondout junction plates by a foot pushing around 100 mph as it went through. I stand on the pedestrian path, at Rondout, that replaced the electric North Shoreline to watch Freights, Amtrak and the local suburban trains. Good overview.

    Reply
  6. In the American market they are lower and have a greater supply compared to the European market (the U.K. has a quantity of material but the prices are a little high). Kato doesn't even see himself and I know he has good material. German companies do it with quality but at a high price. Yes, there are other companies but they are in the U.K. and soon the pre-payment skyrockets. Yes, nowadays the sets are better and I speak from experience. I miss seeing Bachmann and Atlas here. Perhaps it is the size of the market that creates the conditions. You are lucky, you don't even know. I have N scale, all american, and boy some times ……😢. Expensive and there is nothing.

    Reply
  7. Great documentary; those heavy old locomotives looked fantastic. Shame passenger rail almost got organized out of existence by the road and then the air lobby leaving just commuter and tourist lines. But there's a renaissance now with those Brightline trainsets which, if not subject to a new bunch of dirty tricks, could spread successfully to dozens of places. As has been found in the UK, it's just not possible to bulldoze old city center areas and suburbs for new high speed tracks without vested interest groups stonewalling forever, so the good old days of continental rail can't come back. And even if they could who, apart from a tourist, wants to take 3 days to go where an airplane can go in six hours.

    Reply

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