Consolidated line
A builder's photo of F-M model CPA-24-5 demonstrator units #4802 (foreground) and #4801. The B-A1A configured units were eventually purchased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and assigned road #0790 & #0791.
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| Type and origin | |
|---|---|
| Power type | Diesel-electric |
| Builder |
Fairbanks Morse (USA), Canadian Locomotive Company |
| Build date | March 1950 to February 1955 |
| Total produced | 99 (USA), 66 (Canada) |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| AAR wheel arr. | B-B or B-A1A |
| Gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 56 ft 3 in (17.15 m) |
| Engine type | Two-stroke opposed piston diesel |
| Cylinders | 8, 10, or 12 |
| Cylinder size | 8.125 by 10 inches (206 mm × 254 mm) |
| Performance figures | |
|---|---|
| Power output | 1,600 hp (1.19 MW), 2,000 hp (1.49 MW), or 2,400 hp (1,800 kW) |
The Consolidated line, or C-line, was a series of diesel-electric railway locomotive designs produced by Fairbanks-Morse and its Canadian licensee, the Canadian Locomotive Company. Individual locomotives in this series were commonly referred to as “C-liners”. A combined total of 165 units (123 cab-equipped lead A units and 42 cabless booster B units) were produced by F-M and the CLC between 1950 and 1955.
Since 1932, Fairbanks-Morse had specialized in the manufacture of opposed piston diesel engines for United States Naval vessels. Not long after, the company produced a 300 hp (220 kW) 5 by 6 inches (127 mm × 152 mm) engine that saw limited use in railcar applications on the B&O, Milwaukee Road, and a few other lines. Additionally, two of the 5 × 6s were placed in an experimental center cab switcher locomotive under development by the Reading Railroad (road #87, built in 1939 by the St. Louis Car Company, or SLCC, and scrapped in 1953). A 5 x 6 powered the plant switcher at F-M's Beloit, Wisconsin manufacturing facility.
In 1939, the SLCC placed F-M 800 hp (600 kW) 8 by 10 inches (203 mm × 254 mm) engines in six streamlined railcars, which are known today as the FM OP800. In 1944, F-M began production of its own 1,000-horsepower (0.75 MW) yard switcher, the H-10-44. Milwaukee Road #760 (originally delivered as #1802), the first Fairbanks-Morse locomotive constructed in their own plant, is now preserved and on display at the Illinois Railway Museum. F-M had yet to produce a railroad road locomotive, or any locomotive prior to the 1944 switcher which was built several years after its conception; all other locomotive producers, except for General Motors (and a few others who manufactured small industrial locomotives), were forced by the government to continue to build reciprocating steam locomotives during much of the war. All national locomotive production was subject to strict wartime restrictions regarding the number and type of railroad-related products they could manufacture (the U.S. Government in the name of the Navy commandeered all F-M O-P production well into 1944). Following World War II, North American railways began phasing out their aging steam locomotives and sought to replace them with state-of-the-art diesel locomotives at an ever-increasing rate due to the impossible economics of steam propulsion. Fairbanks-Morse, along with its competing firms, sought to capitalize on this new market opportunity.
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Wikipedia