Pennsylvania Railroad EMD E7 5901 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
(Photo by and (c)2015 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
EMD E7 DIESEL-ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
The E7 was a 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW), A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. 428 cab versions, or E7As, were built from February 1945 to April 1949; 82 booster E7Bs were built from March 1945 to July 1948. (Circa 1953 one more E7A was built by the Los Angeles General Shops of the Southern Pacific by rebuilding an E2A.) The 2,000 hp came from two 12 cylinder model 567A engines. Each engine drove its own electrical generator to power the two traction motors on one truck. The E7 was the eighth model in a line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units, and it became the best selling E model upon its introduction.
In profile the front of the nose of an E7A was less slanted than on earlier EMD passenger locomotives, and the E7, E8, and E9 units have been nicknamed “bulldog nose” units. Some earlier units were called “shovel nose” units or “slant nose” units.
Illustration of General Motors' Electro-Motive Division EMD E-7 A and B locomotive units in New York Central livery.
(JAGRAFXWIK, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
Original owners
| Railroad | Quantity A units | Quantity B units | Road numbers A units | Road numbers B units | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electro-Motive Division (demonstrator) | 1 | — | 765 | — | Former GM Train of Tomorrow demonstrator, sold to Union Pacific 988 |
| Alton Railroad | 7 | — | 101,A–103,A, 100 | — | to GM&O in 1947 |
| Atlantic Coast Line Railroad | 20 | 10 | 524–543 | 755–764 | |
| Bangor and Aroostook Railroad | 2 | — | 700–701 | — | renumbered 10–11, Both Re-geared for freight in 1962 |
| Boston and Maine Railroad | 21 | — | 3800–3820 | — | |
| Baltimore and Ohio Railroad | 18 | — | 64,A–80,A | — | Even numbers only |
| Central of Georgia Railway | 10 | — | 801–810 | — | |
| Chesapeake and Ohio Railway | 4 | — | 95–98 | — | |
| Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad | 3 | — | 1100–1102 | — | |
| Chicago and North Western Railway | 26 | — | 5007B, 5008A,B–5019A,B, 5020A | — | |
| Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad | 44 | — | 9916A,B–9936A,B, 9937A, 9949 | — | |
| Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad | 11 | 9 | 632–642 | 632B–634B, 637B–642B | |
| Florida East Coast Railway | 17 | 3 | 1006–1022 | 1052–1054 | |
| Great Northern Railway | 13 | — | 500A,B–504A,B, 510A–512A | — | 500A,B–504A,B renumbered 500A–509A |
| Illinois Central Railroad | 14 | 4 | 4005–4017, 4000 | 4100–4103 | |
| Louisville and Nashville Railroad | 12 | — | 458A,B–461A,B, 790–793 | — | |
| Maine Central Railroad | 7 | — | 705–711 | — | |
| Milwaukee Road | 10 | — | 16A,B–20A,B | — | |
| Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad | 2 | — | 101A,B | — | |
| Missouri Pacific Railroad | 9 | 7 | 7004–7006, 7010–7011, 7014–7017 | 7004B, 7010B–7011B, 7014B–7017B | renumbered 13–15, 19–20, 23–26, 13B–15B, 17B–20B |
| Missouri Pacific Railroad (International-Great Northern Railroad) | 3 | 1 | 7007, 7012–7013 | 7012B | renumbered 16, 21–22, 16B |
| Missouri Pacific Railroad (St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway) | 2 | — | 7008–7009 | — | renumbered 17–18 |
| New York Central Railroad | 36 | 14 | 4000–4035 | 4100–4113 | E7B renumbered 4200-4213 by Penn Central in 1968 |
| Pere Marquette Railway | 8 | — | 101–108 | — | |
| Pennsylvania Railroad | 46 | 14 | 5900A–5901A, 5840A–5883A | 5840B–5864B (even only), 5900B | 5900-5901A renumbered to 4200-4201, 5840-5841 to 4240-4241, 5842-5879 to 4202-4239, 5880-5883 to 4242-4245, all to Penn Central same numbers. E7B renumbered 4214-4227 in 1968 |
| Seaboard Air Line Railroad | 32 | 3 | 3017–3048 | 3105–3107 | |
| St. Louis–San Francisco Railway | 6 | — | 2000–2005 | — | Later rebuilt to look like E8's, but retained the same E7 innards |
| Southern Railway | 18 | — | 2905–2922 | — | |
| Southern Pacific Company | 5 | 10 | 6000A–6004A | 6000B,C–6004B,C | |
| Southern Pacific Company | 1 | — | 6017 | — | Model E7m, rebuilt from an E2A at Los Angeles Shops. |
| Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway | 1 | — | 750 | — | to Burlington Northern 9900 |
| Texas and Pacific Railway | 10 | — | 2000–2009 | — | renumbered 1–10 |
| Union Pacific Railroad | 4 | 3 | 959A–960A, 930A–931A | 961B–963B | |
| Joint UP-C&NW | 1 | 2 | 927A | 928B–929B | |
| Joint UP-SP-C&NW | 1 | 2 | 907A | 908B–909B | |
| Wabash Railroad | 4 | — | 1000, 1001, 1001A, 1002 | — | 1001 renumbered 1002A, then 1017; 1001A renumbered 1016 |
| Total | 429 | 82 |
An E7 leads the Milwaukee Road's afternoon Twin Cities Hiawatha in 1956. Photo courtesy Milwaukee Road. (Audio-Visual designs, Earlton, NY, Public domain, via W. Lenheim Collection)
Photo postcard of the Southern Pacific Shasta Daylight led by an EMD E7. (Photo: Southern Pacific Railroad; Card: Lyman Cox, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
GM&O E7A No 100 in Chicago at 35th and California on January 3, 1964. (Photo by Roger Puta, courtesy Marty Bernard, railfan 44, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
NYC 4077 (E8A) with Train 56, the Fifth Avenue - Cleveland Limited, in Hammond, Ind. on November 26, 1965. (Photo by Roger Puta, courtesy Marty Bernard, railfan 44, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
The Illinois Central's City of New Orleans at Kankakee, Illinois. The train is led by EMD E7 No. 4017, August, 1964. (Lawrence and David Barera, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
Central of Georgia 801 (E7A) stored on side track at Terminal Station in Atlanta, GA on April 12 1963. (Photo by Roger Puta, courtesy Marty Bernard, railfan 44, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Surviving example
Ex-Pennsylvania Railroad E7A No. 5901 is preserved as the only surviving example of the E7. This locomotive has been cosmetically restored, and is currently on indoor display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
In film
A Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad E7A, No. 103-A, appears at the start and end of the 1967 film In The Heat of the Night.
A Southern Pacific E7A, No. 6001, is on the point of a train that figures prominently in "The Hitch-Hiker", a popular 1960 episode of the anthology television series, The Twilight Zone, starring Inger Stevens. (According to the narration, Steven's character is said to encounter the train somewhere between Pennsylvania and Tennessee, yet the locomotive's number board shows that the train, No. 99, is the Coast Daylight, which traveled between Los Angeles and San Francisco.)
Photo of the Alton Railroad's new EMD E-7 locomotives, 1945.
(Minneapolis Trubine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
EMD E7 Type and origin
Power type: Diesel-electric
Builder: General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
Model: E7
Build date: February 1945 – April 1949
Total produced: 428 A units, 82 B units
Specifications
Configuration:
• AAR A1A-A1A
Gauge: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Wheel diameter: 36 in (914 mm)
Minimum curve: 21° (274.37 ft or 83.63 m radius)
Length: 71 ft (22 m)
Width: 10 ft 6+1⁄2 in (3.213 m)
Height: 14 ft 11 in (4.55 m)
Locomotive weight A unit: 315,000 lb (143,000 kg), Locomotive weight B unit: 290,000 lb (130,000 kg)
Fuel type: Diesel
Prime mover: EMD 567A (x 2)
RPM range: 800
Engine type: V12 Two-stroke diesel
Aspiration: Mechanical via Roots blower
Displacement: 6,804 cu in (111.50 L) each
Generator: EMD D-4 (x 2)
Traction motors: GM D7 or D17 or D27 (x 4)
Cylinders: 12 (x 2)
Performance figures
Maximum speed: 85–117 mph (137–188 km/h)
Power output: 2,000 hp (1,491 kW) total
Tractive effort: 56,500 lb (25,600 kg) starting, 31,000 lb (14,000 kg) continuous
Career
Locale: United States
Disposition: One preserved on static display, remainder scrapped.