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Progress Rail Locomotives,
doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of
diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conv ...
s, locomotive products and
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
s for the rail industry. The company is owned by
Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
through its subsidiary
Progress Rail Progress Rail Services Corporation , a fully owned subsidiary of Caterpillar since 2006, is a supplier of railroad and transit system products and services headquartered in Albertville, Alabama. Founded as a recycling company in 1982, Progress R ...
. Electro-Motive Diesel traces its roots to the Electro-Motive Engineering Corporation, a designer and marketer of gasoline-electric self-propelled rail cars founded in 1922 and later renamed Electro-Motive Company (EMC). In 1930,
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
purchased Electro-Motive Company and the Winton Engine Co., and in 1941 it expanded EMC's realm to locomotive engine manufacturing as Electro-Motive Division (EMD). In 2005, GM sold EMD to Greenbriar Equity Group and
Berkshire Partners Berkshire Partners is an American private equity firm based in Boston. It has invested in over 100 middle market companies since 1986 through nine investment funds with aggregate capital commitments of more than $16 billion. Berkshire has devel ...
, which formed Electro-Motive Diesel to facilitate the purchase. In 2010,
Progress Rail Progress Rail Services Corporation , a fully owned subsidiary of Caterpillar since 2006, is a supplier of railroad and transit system products and services headquartered in Albertville, Alabama. Founded as a recycling company in 1982, Progress R ...
completed the purchase of Electro-Motive Diesel from Greenbriar, Berkshire, and others. EMD's headquarters, engineering facilities and parts manufacturing operations are based in
McCook, Illinois McCook is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and is an industrial suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 249, which is the lowest population of all municipalities in the county. History McCook was na ...
, while its final locomotive assembly line is located in
Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...
. EMD also operates a traction motor maintenance, rebuild and overhaul facility in
San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...
, Mexico. As of 2008, EMD employed approximately 3,260 people, and in 2010 it held approximately 30 percent of the market for diesel-electric locomotives in North America.


History


Early years

1920s gasoline-electric railcar Harold L. Hamilton and Paul Turner founded the Electro-Motive Engineering Corporation in
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, in 1922, soon renaming it to Electro-Motive Company (EMC). At
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The company developed and marketed self-propelled railcars using
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
's newly developed internal combustion-electric propulsion and control systems. Hamilton started his railroading career as a fireman, then locomotive engineer, on the
Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
, then became a manager with the Florida East Coast Railway before he left railroading for a marketing position with the
White Motor Company The White Motor Company was an American automobile, truck, bus and agricultural tractor manufacturer from 1900 until 1980. The company also produced bicycles, roller skates, automatic lathes, and sewing machines. Before World War II, the comp ...
, an early manufacturer of trucks and buses, in Denver. Training and service agreements were part of White's marketing package that Hamilton would carry over to EMC. Aware of the needs of branch line services of railroads and the opportunities provided with GE's new internal combustion-electric propulsion and control technology, he quit his position with White and set up shop in a Chicago hotel with his partner and a designer to develop and market a new generation of self-propelled railcars. In 1923 EMC sold two gasoline-powered rail motor cars, one to the
Chicago Great Western The Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesota ...
and the other to the
Northern Pacific Northern Pacific may refer to: * Northern Pacific Airways, an upcoming airline * Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference The Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) was an NCAA Division I conference that only sponsored women’s fiel ...
. EMC subcontracted the body construction to
St Louis Car Company The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, interurbans, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887 to 1974, based in St. Louis, Missouri. History The St. Louis Car Company ...
, electrical components to General Electric, and the prime mover to the
Winton Engine Company The Winton Motor Carriage Company was a pioneer United States automobile manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. Winton was one of the first American companies to sell a motor car. In 1912 Winton became one of the first American manufacturers ...
of
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. The motorcars were delivered in 1924 and worked well, fortunate for the fledgling company, because the sales were conditional on satisfactory performance. In 1925 EMC entered full-scale production, selling 27 railcars. In 1930
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
(GM) was seeking to enter production of diesel engines and broaden their range of applications. They purchased the Winton Engine Company, who had in their product line a variety of stationary and marine diesel engines and spark-ignition engines for heavy vehicles. GM saw EMC's role in developing and marketing Winton-engined heavy vehicles as fitting their objectives and purchased the company shortly after the Winton acquisition, renaming it Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC), a subsidiary of GM. Supported by the GM Research Division headed by
Charles F. Kettering Charles Franklin Kettering (August 29, 1876 – November 25, 1958) sometimes known as Charles Fredrick Kettering was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. For the list of patents issued to Kettering, see, Le ...
, GM's Winton Engine Corporation focused on developing diesel engines with improved power-to-weight ratios and output flexibility suitable for mobile use. Eugene W. Kettering, son of Charles Kettering, led Winton's side of the development project. In 1933 EMC designed the power setups for the ''
Zephyr In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fiction Fiction media * ''Zephyr'' (film), a 2010 Turkish ...
'' and ''
M-10000 The M-10000 was an early American streamlined passenger trainset that operated for the Union Pacific Railroad from 1934 until 1941. It was the first streamlined passenger train to be delivered in the United States, and the second to enter regula ...
''
streamliner A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating wikt:streamline, streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "High-speed rail, bullet trai ...
s, a breakthrough in the power and speed available with their propulsion systems. The ''Zephyr'' used the first major product of the new GM-Winton venture, a 600 hp, eight cylinder version of the Winton 201A Roots blown, uniflow scavenged, unit injected, 2-stroke
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
. As the Budd and
Pullman Standard The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...
companies entered contracts to build more diesel-powered streamliners, they became major customers for EMC. Diesel power had been shown suitable for small, lightweight, high speed trains, in addition to its more established role in yard service. Seeing opportunities to broaden the role of diesel in railroading, EMC invested in a new locomotive factory and started development work on the locomotives that it would produce. The factory headquarters on 55th Street in
McCook, Illinois McCook is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and is an industrial suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 249, which is the lowest population of all municipalities in the county. History McCook was na ...
, west of Chicago, remains the corporate headquarters. The 1935
EMC 1800 hp B-B Electro-Motive Corporation (later Electro-Motive Division, General Motors) produced five 1800 hp B-B experimental passenger train-hauling diesel locomotives in 1935; two company-owned demonstrators, #511 and #512, the Baltimore and Ohio Rai ...
development design locomotives featured the multiple-unit control systems that became the basis of cab/booster locomotive sets, and the twin engine format that would be adopted for the newest ''Zephyr'' power units in 1936 and EMC's
E series E series may refer to: * BMC E-series engine, a series of automobile engines * Electronic E series of preferred numbers, a series of preferred values for electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, zener diodes * Entwicklung seri ...
streamlined passenger locomotives that their new factory began producing in 1937. Prior to their introduction of the E units EMC was in production of switch engines, which remained the mainstay of their production until dieselization of freight and passenger service hit full stride in the mid-1940s. The GM-Winton research and development effort continued through the mid-1930s, building on experience with the Winton 201A, to develop diesel engines to better meet the specific needs of locomotive use. The fruit of that effort was GM's new 567 engine, introduced by their renamed
Cleveland Diesel Engine Division The Cleveland Diesel Engine Division of General Motors (GM) was a leading research, design and production facility of diesel engines from the 1930s to the 1960s that was based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Diesel Engine Division designed seve ...
in 1938. The new engine upgraded the horsepower of EMC's E series locomotives to 2000 per locomotive unit and increased reliability substantially. Also in 1938, EMC increased its reach up the chain of locomotive production by transitioning from General Electric equipment to in-house produced generators and traction motors. With Eugene Kettering moving to EMC that year, EMC moved into a leading role in further development of GM's locomotive engines. GM-Winton-EMC's long development efforts put the company in an advantageous position relative to other developers of diesel-electric locomotion. Their nearest competitor was the
American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...
(ALCO), who had produced diesel-electric switch engines since the mid-1920s, provided motive power for the ''
Rebel A rebel is a participant in a rebellion. Rebel or rebels may also refer to: People * Rebel (given name) * Rebel (surname) * Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution * American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; ...
'' streamliner trainsets in 1935, and started production of development design locomotives to compete with the E-units in 1939. EMC's other main competitor, the
Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...
, had their development work with diesel delayed by their belief through the 1930s that the future of mainline service remained with steam, and by financial difficulties that effectively froze their diesel development while EMC and ALCO continued theirs. Baldwin started producing diesel-electric switch engines in 1939. Passenger trains made little money for the railroads, but replacement of steam engines with reliable diesel units could provide railroads with a crucial difference for profitability. With standardized production of locomotives, EMC simplified the processes for ordering, manufacturing, and servicing locomotives and introduced
economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...
that would lower unit costs. EMC offered support services including financing, training, and field maintenance that would ease the transition from steam to diesel and boost their market in the last years before US entry into World War II. The performance of the new 567 engine in passenger locomotives also built confidence in the viability of diesel power for freight service. In 1939 the company built a four-unit freight locomotive demonstrator, the FT, and began a tour of the continent's railroads. The tour was a success. Western railroads in particular saw that the diesels could free them from dependence on scarce water supplies for steam locomotives. In 1940, after incorporating
dynamic braking Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric or diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed " rheostatic" if the generated electrical power is dissipated as heat in brake grid r ...
at the suggestion of customers, they were receiving their first orders for the new freight locomotive.


1940–1960

General Motors moved production of locomotive engines under the authority of EMC to create the GM Electro-Motive Division (EMD) on January 1, 1941. With that move, EMD became a fully self-contained development, production, marketing, and service entity. Nonlocomotive products (large marine and stationary diesel engines) continued under GM's
Cleveland Diesel Engine Division The Cleveland Diesel Engine Division of General Motors (GM) was a leading research, design and production facility of diesel engines from the 1930s to the 1960s that was based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Diesel Engine Division designed seve ...
for another twenty years. In January 1941 EMD delivered the first FT unit to the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
, numbered Unit 100, and through that year they were in full-stride production of road and switch locomotives, becoming the world's biggest producer. America's entry into
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
temporarily slowed EMD's locomotive production;
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
ships gained priority for diesel power and the petroleum crisis of 1942-43 made coal-fired steam a more attractive option. The
War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Sup ...
stopped production of new passenger equipment between September 1942 and December 1944. Later in the war, diesel locomotive production for freight service was picking up as more locomotives were needed to haul wartime supplies. By the time the FT model was replaced in 1945, 555 cab units and 541 booster units had been produced. EMD emerged from the war years with major advantages over its competitors in diesel locomotive production, having entered them with fully developed lines of mainline road diesel locomotives while war production allocations restricted their competitors, principally the
American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...
(ALCO) and the
Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...
, to selling mainly diesel switchers and steam locomotives of pre-existing designs. That gave an advantage to EMD's state of technical development with higher powered diesels in the critical postwar years. New model passenger locomotives were delivered starting in February 1945. New models of their freight locomotive followed later in 1945 and 1946. By the late 1940s the vast majority of American railroads had decided to dieselize their locomotive fleets. Passenger services facing increasing competition from air and automotive travel rapidly replaced steam for image and cost reasons, but the biggest growth market was for freight locomotives. To meet post-war demands, EMD opened another locomotive production facility in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1948.
ALCO-GE Alco-GE was a partnership between the American Locomotive Company and General Electric that lasted from 1940 to 1953. Their main competitor was EMD. Arrangement Alco produced locomotive bodies and prime movers while GE supplied the electrical ge ...
was EMD's strongest competitor during the dieselization era, having produced the first road-switcher diesel locomotives in 1941 and gained about a 26% market share of diesel locomotives, mostly for switching and short-haul applications, as of 1946. ALCO's higher-powered locomotives for mainline service were less successful, as they were plagued by reliability problems. In 1948 the ALCO-GE partnership developed a prototype gas-turbine-electric locomotive; series production began in 1952. Latecomers to the diesel locomotive business Baldwin,
Fairbanks-Morse Fairbanks, Morse and Company was an American manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinders, radios, farm tractors, fee ...
, and Lima-Hamilton struggled in the market as their products failed to gain a solid reputation. By 1950 it was clear that EMD's competitors could not crack their position in mainline road diesels and in 1949 their new
EMD GP7 The EMD GP7 is a four-axle ( B-B) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between October 1949 and May 1954.Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973) pp. 53 Power was provided by an EMD 567B 1 ...
road switcher A road switcher is a type of railroad locomotive designed to both haul railcars in mainline service and shunt them in railroad yards. Both type and term are North American in origin, although similar types have been used elsewhere. A road ...
locomotive invaded the market niche previously held by ALCO and Baldwin. In 1950, EMD's new plant in
London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
, Canada, began production. The plant was operated by the Canadian subsidiary
General Motors Diesel General Motors Diesel was a railway diesel locomotive manufacturer located in London, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1949 as the Canadian subsidiary of the Electro-Motive Diesel division of General Motors (EMD). In 1969 it was re-organiz ...
(GMD), producing existing EMD as well as unique GMD designs for the Canadian domestic and export markets. GMD were, as a Canadian concern, able to sell products to other British Commonwealth nations without the
tariffs A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and polic ...
encumbering trade with non-Commonwealth nations, gaining the same market access as ALCO and Baldwin through their subsidiaries Montreal Locomotive Works and
Canadian Locomotive Company The Canadian Locomotive Company, commonly referred to as CLC, was a Canadian manufacturer of railway locomotives located in Kingston, Ontario. Its works were located on the south side of Ontario Street between William and Gore streets on Kingston ...
. EMD's road-switcher locomotives with power and reliability sufficient for mainline use overturned the market for freight locomotives, soon displacing their competitors' road-switchers, then later their own F-series carbody locomotives. The GP9 became the most-produced EMD model ever, with 4,112 A units and 165 B units sold between 1954 and 1963. Owing to their ease of maintenance and versatility, most locomotives sold in North America since the introduction of the GP9 have been road-switcher, or ''hood'', units. Flush-sided locomotives based on a road-switcher chassis, or ''cowl'' units, would later be produced for passenger service. During the mid-1950s, more difficult market conditions followed the peak demand of the dieselization era. The 1950s saw collapse in the positions of all of EMD's established competitors and the strong emergence of a new one, the
General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...
. Lima-Hamilton failed first, in 1951 merging with Baldwin to form Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton. Baldwin's own position was precarious, with their market share dwindling until they left the locomotive business in 1956. Fairbanks-Morse, after struggling to maintain a foothold in the industry with their
opposed piston An opposed-piston engine is a piston engine in which each cylinder has a piston at both ends, and no cylinder head. Petrol and diesel opposed-piston engines have been used mostly in large-scale applications such as ships, military tanks, and ...
marine powerplant, left the locomotive field in 1963. General Electric dissolved the ALCO-GE partnership in the wake of ALCO's lackluster efforts at developing reliable higher-powered engines, and took over the ALCO-GE gas-turbine-electric venture in 1953. In 1956 GE was marketing its own Universal series
Cooper-Bessemer Cooper-Bessemer refers to the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation and the Cooper-Bessemer brand of industrial engines and compressors, manufactured in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The Cooper-Bessemer Corporation was formed when C. & G. Cooper (founded in 1833) an ...
powered diesel-electrics as export locomotives. ALCO's belated introduction of improved locomotive power in 1956 provided the company little benefit; they no longer had the marketing, financing, or service support of GE and the GP9 was a formidable competitor in the saturated domestic market. In 1960 the U25B was the first of GE's road locomotives powered by their FDL-16 diesel engine, which would rapidly displace ALCO's position and eventually displace EMD's position in the domestic market. Competition from the two giants with large capital resources overwhelmed ALCO until they went out of business in 1969. The 567 engine was continuously improved and upgraded. The original six-cylinder 567 produced , the V-12 , and the V-16 . EMD began
turbocharging In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...
the 567 around 1958; the final version, the 567D3A (built from October, 1963, to about January, 1966) produced in its V-16 form.


1960–1985

As the 1960s opened EMD was compelled to respond to the challenge offered by GE's U25B, upgrading the features of their GP (General Purpose) and SD (Special Duty/Standard Duty) series locomotives, boosting the power of their 567 engines, then developing the more powerful 645 engines. Those endeavors as well as the feature upgrades introduced with the SD40-2 were sufficient to maintain EMD's competitive advantage over GE until the mid-1980s. In 1962 GM moved their remaining production of large non-locomotive diesel engines from Cleveland to the EMD facility in McCook, ending the existence of the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division. In late 1965, EMD introduced the enlarged 645 engine. Power ratings were V-12 nonturbocharged, V-8 turbocharged, V-12 turbocharged, V-16 nonturbocharged, and V-16 turbocharged. In late 1965 EMD built their first twenty-cylinder engine, a turbocharged V20 for the
EMD SD45 The SD45 is a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1965 and 1971. It has an EMD 645E3 twenty-cylinder engine generating on the same frame as the SD38, SD39, SD40, and SDP40. As of 2022, mos ...
. The final variant of the sixteen cylinder 645 (the 16-645F) produced . In 1972, EMD introduced modular control systems with the ''Dash-2'' line; the
EMD SD40-2 The EMD SD40-2 is a C-C diesel-electric locomotive built by EMD from 1972 to 1989. The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's '' Dash 2'' series, competing against the GE U30C and the ALCO Century 630. Although higher-horsepowe ...
became one of the most successful diesel locomotive designs in history, both in terms of sales and service longevity. A total of 3,945 SD40-2 units were built. EMD introduced their new 710 engine in 1984 with the 60 Series locomotives (
EMD SD60 The EMD SD60 is a , six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division, intended for heavy-duty drag freight or medium-speed freight service. It was introduced in 1984, and production ran until 1995. History and d ...
and
EMD GP60 An EMD GP60 is a 4-axle (AAR wheel arrangement#B-B, B-B) diesel locomotive, diesel-electric locomotive built by Electro-Motive Diesel, General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1985 and 1994. The GP60 was EMD's first engine that was classif ...
), the EMD 645 engine continued to be offered in certain models (such as the 50 Series) until 1988. The 710 is produced as an eight-, twelve-, sixteen-, and twenty-cylinder engine for locomotive, marine and stationary applications. Concurrently with the introduction of the 710, EMD's control systems on locomotives changed to microprocessors, with computer-controlled wheel slip prevention, among other systems.


1985–2000

EMD's North American market share dropped below that of its main competitor
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
in 1987. After the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement came into effect in 1989, EMD decided to consolidate all locomotive production at the
Diesel Division of General Motors of Canada General Motors Diesel was a railway diesel locomotive manufacturer located in London, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1949 as the Canadian subsidiary of the Electro-Motive Diesel division of General Motors (EMD). In 1969 it was re-organ ...
(formerly GMD) plant in
London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
, a development which ended locomotive production at the La Grange, Illinois plant in 1991, although the Illinois facility continued to produce engines and generators. In the late 1980s and 1990s EMD introduced AC induction motor drive in EMD locomotives using
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
technology. In the early 1990s, EMD introduced the
radial steering truck A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of t ...
, which reduced wheel and track wear. In 1995 EMD replaced mechanical unit injectors with electronically controlled unit injectors on its 710 engines. In 1998 EMD introduced the four-stroke sixteen cylinder 265H-Engine, used as the prime mover in the EMD SD90MAC-H locomotive. Instead of completely replacing the 710 series engine, the H-engine was concurrently produced alongside EMD's two stroke engines, although mainly for export. Acceptance of the 265H was limited over reliability issues. The 265H, at , was the most powerful engine ever produced by EMD and the first four-stroke engine offered to the market by EMD or its ancestral companies since the Winton 201A introduced their breakthrough in two-stroke diesel power in 1934. In 1999,
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
placed the largest single order for diesel locomotives in North American railroad history when they ordered 1,000 units of the EMD SD70M. Union Pacific's fleet of SD70Ms has since been expanded by more than 450 additional units. In addition, Union Pacific also owns nearly 500
EMD SD70ACe The EMD SD70 is a series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by the US company Electro-Motive Diesel in response to the GE Dash 9-44CW. Production commenced in late 1992 and since then over 5,700 units have been produced; most of these are th ...
locomotives, six of which have been painted in "Fallen Flags" (acquired/merged railroads) commemorative liveries. All of these locomotives are 710G-powered.


2000–present

The year 2004 saw
CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
take delivery of the first
SD70ACe The EMD SD70 is a series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by the US company Electro-Motive Diesel in response to the GE Dash 9-44CW. Production commenced in late 1992 and since then over 5,700 units have been produced; most of these are t ...
units, which were advertised by EMD as more reliable, fuel efficient, and easier to maintain than predecessor model
SD70MAC The EMD SD70 is a series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by the US company Electro-Motive Diesel in response to the GE Dash 9-44CW. Production commenced in late 1992 and since then over 5,700 units have been produced; most of these are t ...
. The model meets the
EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
Tier 2 emission requirements using the two-stroke 710 diesel engine. The following year
Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...
became the first carrier to receive the new SD70M-2 - successor to the SD70M. Like its sister roadswitcher, the SD70ACe, the SD70M-2 meets EPA Tier 2 requirements using the same engine. And like the "ACe", the "M-2" is certified to be in conformance with ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004.EMD:ISO Certifications
/ref> In June 2004, ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' published an article indicating EMD was being put up for sale. On January 11, 2005,
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
published a story indicating a sale to "two private U.S. equity groups" was likely to be announced "this week". Confirmation came the following day, with a press release issued by General Motors, stating it had agreed to sell EMD to a partnership led by Greenbriar Equity Group and
Berkshire Partners Berkshire Partners is an American private equity firm based in Boston. It has invested in over 100 middle market companies since 1986 through nine investment funds with aggregate capital commitments of more than $16 billion. Berkshire has devel ...
. The newly spun-off company was called Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc., thus retaining the famous "EMD" initials. The sale closed on April 4, 2005. On June 1, 2010,
Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
announced it had agreed to buy Electro-Motive Diesel from Greenbriar, Berkshire ''et al.'' for $820 million. Caterpillar's wholly owned subsidiary,
Progress Rail Progress Rail Services Corporation , a fully owned subsidiary of Caterpillar since 2006, is a supplier of railroad and transit system products and services headquartered in Albertville, Alabama. Founded as a recycling company in 1982, Progress R ...
, completed the transaction on August 2, 2010. Although Caterpillar announced that John S. Hamilton would continue in his roles of president and CEO of EMD after the close of the transaction, Mr. Hamilton left EMD for unspecified reasons in late August 2010. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Tier-4 locomotive emissions regulations on new locomotives went into effect on January 1, 2015. As of that date EMD's 710-engined locomotives (e.g. SD70ACe's) could be built only for use outside the contiguous United States (i.e. Canada, Alaska, Mexico, and overseas). EMD had originally thought the 710 engine could be modified or "tuned-up" to meet Tier-4 standards, but it was not able to meet those requirements while maintaining optimum performance and reliability during rigorous "real world conditions" tests. Development of a Tier-4-compliant locomotive shifted from its original focus on the two-stroke 710 to the four-stroke 1010J engine, derived from the 265H engine. The first (pre-production) locomotive using the 1010J engine, the SD70ACe-T4, using a (4,400 traction hp) 12 cylinder engine was unveiled in late 2015. Testing of the new locomotives began in the Spring of 2016. The first two units of a 65 unit order for the new locomotive were delivered to Union Pacific in December 2016. EMD continues to offer 710-powered locomotives for export as well as "ECO" upgrade packages for modernizing of older locomotives, which sustained their business during the hiatus of locomotive production for the domestic market.


Manufacturing and assembly facilities

EMD currently maintains major facilities in
McCook, Illinois McCook is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and is an industrial suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 249, which is the lowest population of all municipalities in the county. History McCook was na ...
, and
Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...
in the United States, Sete Lagoas, Brazil and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The company operated a manufacturing facility in
London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
, Canada until its closure in 2012.


EMD La Grange (McCook)

Since its ground breaking in 1935, the La Grange facility has been the headquarters for EMD. In addition to the corporation's administrative offices, La Grange houses design engineering, emissions testing, rebuild operations, and manufacturing of major components, including prime mover engines, traction alternators, electrical cabinets, and turbochargers. The La Grange facility includes three main buildings, with over of office and manufacturing space. Ancillary buildings are used to provide maintenance and testing capabilities. EMD La Grange is ISO 9001:2008 Certified for Quality and ISO 14001 Certified for Environmental Management. A large part of the property's land has been sold off including the land where the original factory building stood. With the sale of the land, the large sign of "Electro Motive Division" that stood at the corner of 55th St. and East Ave. was removed but is preserved at the
Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...
.


EMD London

The EMD London plant, in
London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
, Canada, opened in 1949 under EMD's Canadian subsidiary
General Motors Diesel General Motors Diesel was a railway diesel locomotive manufacturer located in London, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1949 as the Canadian subsidiary of the Electro-Motive Diesel division of General Motors (EMD). In 1969 it was re-organiz ...
, to produce locomotives during a time of rapidly rising demand. EMD London's Canadian location was useful for General Motors' when attempting to procure Canadian federal contracts and serve Canadian rail customers. Situated on a site, the EMD London facility included two main buildings and multiple ancillary buildings with over of office and manufacturing space, as well as a locomotive test track. Following reorganization under the Diesel Division of General Motors of Canada in 1969, the facility was at times used to produce a variety of products in the General Motors family, including transit buses (until 1979) and military vehicles. Following passage of the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement in 1989, EMD London became the location where all of the construction, finishing, and testing of EMD locomotives in North America was performed. The facility also manufactured components such as locomotive underframes, traction motors, truck assemblies, and locomotive equipment racks. The rate of production was approximately one locomotive completed per day. EMD London was ISO 9001:2000 Certified for Quality and ISO 14001 Certified for Environmental Management. In January 2012, 450
Canadian Auto Workers The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW; formally the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada) was one of Canada's largest and highest profile labour unions. In 2013, it merged with the Communications, Energy and ...
union workers were
locked out Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...
of the EMD London facility, after refusing to ratify EMD's proposed new contract which included a pay cut of 50% for some workers - labour costs at the Canadian plant were much greater than in some of the company's US plants. In February 2012
Progress Rail Progress Rail Services Corporation , a fully owned subsidiary of Caterpillar since 2006, is a supplier of railroad and transit system products and services headquartered in Albertville, Alabama. Founded as a recycling company in 1982, Progress R ...
announced the closure of the plant; Caterpillar's actions were criticised in Canada; the company stated it would relocate production to other sites in North and South America, including the non-unionised plant in
Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...
. At the time of closure the plant employed approximately 775 people directly.


EMD San Luis Potosí

On April 14, 2010, Electro-Motive opened a facility in San Luis Potosí, Mexico for the maintenance, rebuild, and overhaul of traction motors and other electrical equipment.


EMD Muncie

In October 2010, Caterpillar announced it was investing US$50 million to acquire and to renovate an existing building for assembly of EMD brand locomotives and to build a locomotive test track on a site located in
Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...
. The Muncie facility allows EMD to supply locomotives to publicly funded passenger rail agencies that require their rail equipment be assembled in the United States exclusively. (see
Buy America Act Section 165 () of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (commonly called the Buy America Act) is a section of the larger STAA that deals with purchases related to rail or road transportation. Unlike the similarly titled Buy America ...
) On July 25, 2011, it was announced that production at the facility was planned to begin by the end of the year, with 125 workers having been hired and plans to add more. On October 28, the plant was officially opened, and the first locomotive produced at the plant, a
Ferromex Ferromex ( syllabic abbreviation of Ferrocarril Mexicano or "Mexican Railway") is a private rail consortium that operates the largest (by mileage) railway in Mexico with combined mileage (Ferromex + Ferrosur) of and is part of the North Americ ...
SD70ACe The EMD SD70 is a series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by the US company Electro-Motive Diesel in response to the GE Dash 9-44CW. Production commenced in late 1992 and since then over 5,700 units have been produced; most of these are t ...
#4092, was rolled out.


Subcontractors and licensees

The company also entered into subcontracting and licensing arrangements, both for whole locomotives, and diesel and electrical drivetrains ( genset plus traction motors and control electronics). In Europe, licensees included
Henschel Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicle ...
(Germany) from the 1950s-80s which manufactured locomotives for export to African, South Asian, and Scandinavian countries, as well as Austria;
NOHAB NOHAB (Nydqvist & Holm AB) was a manufacturing company based in the city of Trollhättan, Sweden. History The company was founded by Antenor Nydqvist, Johan Magnus Lidström and Carl Olof Holm in 1847 as ''Trollhättans Mekaniska Verkstad'' as ...
(Sweden) from the 1950s-70s,Larry Russell, "EMD Export Page"
NOHAB
/ref> and after NOHAB's closure
Kalmar Verkstad Kalmar Verkstad AB (''KVAB'') was a Swedish train and automobile manufacturer in Kalmar, Sweden that made the Tjorven and Terminal. KVAB was founded in 1902 and closed in 2005 by Bombardier. History and products KVAB's core business was trai ...
(KVAB) (Sweden) in the 1980s. When the KVAB and Henschel factories were acquired by
ABB Group ABB Ltd. is a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to create ...
in 1990, EMD-licensed manufacture ended. In Belgium, EMD-engined locomotives were manufactured by
Société Franco-Belge The Société Franco-Belge was a Franco-Belgian engineering firm that specialised in the construction of railway vehicles and their components and accessories. The company originated in 1859 as the Belgian firm Compagnie Belge pour la Constructio ...
, and then by
La Brugeoise et Nivelles La Brugeoise et Nivelles, later BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Métalliques was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies: La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateli ...
in the 1950s and 60s. In Spain,
MACOSA Stadler Rail Valencia SAU is a Spanish company, mainly producing products for the railway industry, subsidiary of Stadler Rail. History MACOSA The Company was founded in 1947 with the name Material y Construcciones S.A. (or MACOSA) by the merger ...
and its successors assembled and manufactured EMD locomotives, including standard EMD export designs as well as variants for the domestic market, as of 2011 EMD-engined diesels are still manufactured in Spain as the
Vossloh Euro The Stadler Euro (known as the Vossloh Euro until 2015) is a class of diesel-electric locomotives built by Stadler Rail for the European market. It is available in two basic variants, the four-axle Euro 3000, and the six-axle Euro 4000. These lo ...
series.
Đuro Đaković Đuro Đaković (30 November 1886 – 25 April 1929) was a Yugoslav metal worker, communist and revolutionary. Đaković was the organizational secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, from April 1928 to April ...
of
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
(Yugoslavia) also held a license from EMD and manufactured locomotives for the
Yugoslav Railways Yugoslav Railways ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslavenske željeznice/Jugoslovenske železnice, Југославенске жељезнице/Југословенске железнице; mk, Југословенски железници; sl, Jugoslovans ...
. By 2000, EMD had produced with its collaborators around 300 locomotives using EMD technology in Scandinavia, 500 in western Europe, and 400 in eastern Europe.Sources: * *
alternative link via ''findarticles.com''
/ref> Approximately 75% of EMD's European locomotives sold by 2000 were license-built in Europe. The company also entered into a collaboration (early 2000s) with
Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant (russian: Людиновский тепловозостроительный завод) is a plant in Lyudinovsky founded in 1745. In 2007 the works became part of Sinara Transport Machines. it produces shunting loco ...
(Russia) (Людиновский тепловозостроительный завод), (now part of
Sinara Group Sinara Group is a Russian investment company founded in 2001 with holdings in the property development, rail transportation and financial services sectors. History The company was founded in 2001, and in 2004 acquired industrial and agricultural c ...
) creating a single-body eight axle 3MW (Bo'Bo')'(Bo'Bo')' diesel locomotive '' ТЭРА1'', powered by an
EMD 710 The EMD 710 is a line of diesel engines built by Electro-Motive Diesel (previously General Motors' Electro-Motive Division). The 710 series replaced the earlier EMD 645 series when the 645F series proved to be unreliable in the early 1980s 50-se ...
16-cylinder engine. In the early 2010s the company began a collaboration with Croatian rolling stock company
TŽV Gredelj TŽV Gredelj (''Tvornica željezničkih vozila Gredelj d.o.o.'') is a state-owned Croatian rolling stock company founded in 1894 as the railway workshops of the Hungarian State Railways. History The company's history dates to 1894 and the establis ...
. Locomotives were also assembled by General Motors Industria Argentina, General Motors South Africa, and under license by
Delta Motor Corporation Delta Motor Corporation was a South African car manufacturer, which was created through a management buy-out after General Motors (GM) divested from South Africa in 1986. It was headed by former GM executive, Bob Price, who had returned to South A ...
(South Africa), Equipamentos Villares (Brazil), and
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...
(Korea).
Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
has also acted as subcontractor, manufacturing units at its plant in Ciudad Sahagún,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
since 1998, with over 1,000 locomotives completed by 2007. The manufacturing agreement continued under
Progress Rail Progress Rail Services Corporation , a fully owned subsidiary of Caterpillar since 2006, is a supplier of railroad and transit system products and services headquartered in Albertville, Alabama. Founded as a recycling company in 1982, Progress R ...
ownership. In Australia,
Clyde Engineering Clyde Engineering was an Australian manufacturer of locomotives, rolling stock, and other industrial products. It was founded in September 1898 by a syndicate of Sydney businessmen buying the Granville factory of timber merchants Huds ...
used EMD components in locally manufactured locomotives beginning in the 1950s. That company was absorbed into what eventually became
Downer Rail Downer Rail is a business unit within the Downer Group. As well as manufacturing and maintaining railway rolling stock it holds maintenance contracts to maintain rail infrastructure. The head office is located in North Ryde. History The EDI ...
. In
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, the
Banaras Locomotive Works The Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) (formerly Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW)) in Varanasi, India, is a production unit of Indian Railways. DLW stopped manufacturing diesel locomotives in March 2019 and was renamed BLW in Oct 2020. History Founde ...
(DLW) manufactured EMD designs from the late 1990s to late 2010s. In 2010, EMD announced its intention to establish its own manufacturing facility in India, potentially in
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
, through a PPP project with the state government, or in
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. As of 2011 EMD's cooperative development association with
Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
is ongoing. In China,
CRRC Dalian CRRC Dalian Co., Ltd. (), often abbreviated as DLoco, is a company located in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China, producing railway locomotives, multiple units and diesel engines. The factory was established in 1899 during the period of constructio ...
has manufactured the EMD-designed units
China Railway HXN3 The China Railway HXN3 (EMD classification JT56ACe) is a 6000 horsepower (4.5 MW) diesel-electric locomotive designed by Electro-Motive Diesel in the United States for export to China. All JT56ACe locomotives use AC traction motor technology an ...
(JT56ACe) since 2008. In 2012, the EMD formed a joint venture with Barloworld, ''Electro-Motive Diesel Africa (Proprietary) Limited'', to supply locomotive and rail-related products to the sub-saharan African market. In September 2012, EMD also signed a deal with
Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
; Bombardier's factory in Savli, India, would assemble EMD products for Asian customers.


Maintenance and support facilities

EMD also provides maintenance services, technical support, parts inventory, and sales and marketing services from many other locations spread throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, Egypt, and South Africa.


Engines


Locomotive engines

EMD has produced the following series of engines: *
EMD 567 The EMD 567 is a line of large medium-speed diesel engines built by Electro-Motive Diesel, General Motors' Electro-Motive Division. This engine, which succeeded Winton Motor Carriage Company, Winton's 201A, was used in EMD's locomotives from 193 ...
– The 567 was produced from 1938 through 1965, named for its displacement-per-cylinder of 567.45 in³ (bore 8½ inches, stroke 10 inches). Other design features:
two-cycle A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...
(or two-stroke), Roots-blown, Uniflow-scavenged, Unit-injected, overhead camshafts, four exhaust valves per cylinder. Built in V-6, V-8, V-12 and V-16 configurations. 567AC, 567BC, 567C, 567D and "567E" engines may be retrofitted with 645 Power assemblies and other major components, mainly for so-called "life-extension" programs; 567E engines are actually 645E blocks which were originally manufactured with 567 power assemblies *
EMD 645 The EMD 645 is a family of diesel engines that was designed and manufactured by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. While the 645 series was intended primarily for locomotive, marine and stationary engine use, one 16-cylinder versio ...
– "E- and F-Engines"; Currently in production by request; most 645 major assemblies remain in new production for replacement purposes *
EMD 710 The EMD 710 is a line of diesel engines built by Electro-Motive Diesel (previously General Motors' Electro-Motive Division). The 710 series replaced the earlier EMD 645 series when the 645F series proved to be unreliable in the early 1980s 50-se ...
– "G-Engine"; Currently in production, but locomotive versions are restricted to use outside the U.S. due to EPA Tier 4 emissions regulations taking effect in 2015; mechanical unit injectors on pre-1995 engines, electronically controlled unit injectors on post-1995 engines. The 710G engine has now passed tier 4 regulations. *
EMD 265 The EMD 1010 or EMD 265 is a line of four-stroke diesel engines manufactured by Electro-Motive Diesel. The precursor to the 1010 was introduced around 1998 as the 265H or H-Engine. The H-engine was initially designed for use as a 16 cylinder, th ...
– "H-Engine"; no longer in domestic production, and most existing 265-powered locomotives in North America have been removed from service. *
EMD 1010 The EMD 1010 or EMD 265 is a line of four-stroke diesel engines manufactured by Electro-Motive Diesel. The precursor to the 1010 was introduced around 1998 as the 265H or H-Engine. The H-engine was initially designed for use as a 16 cylinder, th ...
– "J-Engine"; Currently in production. First introduced at the Railway Interchange Expo 2015 at BNSF North Town Yard, Minneapolis, Minnesota, from October 4 to October 7, 2015. This new engine is first used on SD70ACe-T4, the new Tier 4 freight locomotive from EMD. This engine features a two-stage turbocharging system consisting of three turbochargers: one turbo (the primary/high pressure turbo) for low-mid RPM range and two turbos (the secondary/low pressure turbos) for mid-high RPM range. The results are bigger power throughout a broader RPM range, better fuel efficiency, and lower emissions.


Stationary and marine engines

Most of the above locomotive engines were available, in modified form, for stationary and marine work. Marine engines differ from railroad and stationary engines mainly in the shape and depth of the engine's oil sump, which has been altered to accommodate the rolling and pitching motions encountered in marine applications.


EMD "pancake" diesels

A new aluminum block lightweight compact engine was designed that ran at a higher rpm. These engines feature a vertical crankshaft and the cylinders were arranged in an X pattern of four cylinder banks in four cylinder rows. These were the 16-184 and 16-338 "pancake" engines. The 16-388 engine was from the base of the generator to the top of the air intake filter and wide. It is a mechanically injected two-stroke diesel engine that used a Roots blower. The 16-184A was installed in some subchasers of the during World War II. The two 16-184A diesel engines driving two shafts produced a faster subchaser that achieved 21 knots. The EMD 16-338 developed at 1600 rpm. On the top was an air intake then four layers of four cylinders each. Each cylinder had a bore and a stroke. On the bottom of the crank shaft was an Elliot generator which developed 817 kW at a maximum of 710 volts DC. This proved problematic as the engine fluids ran down into the generator. The whole engine weighed just over eight tons. Being 4 feet wide it allowed for four engines in an engine room only long and also allowed design engineers to eliminate a submarine engine room. The and the research submarine used the troublesome EMD 16-338. On the ''Tang''-class the Navy decided to replace the "pancake" engines with ten-cylinder
Fairbanks-Morse Fairbanks, Morse and Company was an American manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinders, radios, farm tractors, fee ...
opposed-piston 38D 8-1/8 diesels. The unreliability and lack of spares led to the decommissioning of USS ''Albacore'' in 1972 as further cannibalized parts became unavailable.


Reporting marks

The following
reporting marks A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...
are listed for rolling stock: * EMDX – Electro-Motive Division Leasing * EMLX – Electro-Motive Division Leasing * GMCX –
General Motors Corporation The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
* GMDX – General Motors Diesel Canada


See also

*
List of GM-EMD locomotives The following is a list of locomotives produced by the Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC), and its successors General Motors Electro-Motive Division (GM-EMD) and Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD). Streamlined power cars and early experimental locomotive ...


References


Notes


Sources

* *


External links


EMD website
(archived, 8 Feb 2014)
Progress Rail
current parent company
EMD China
(archived, 30 Jul 2010)
EMD Locomotives
at The-Bluprints.com] {{Authority control Electro-Motive Diesel locomotives, * Manufacturing companies established in 1922 Locomotive engine manufacturers History of Cleveland Companies based in Cook County, Illinois La Grange, Illinois Locomotive manufacturers of the United States Locomotive manufacturers of Canada Former General Motors subsidiaries Caterpillar Inc. subsidiaries Diesel engine manufacturers American brands 1922 establishments in Ohio Engine manufacturers of the United States 2005 mergers and acquisitions 2010 mergers and acquisitions