• What Railroad had FM Trainmasters?

  • Discussion of Fairbanks-Morse locomotive products. Official web site can be found here: www.fairbanksmorse.com.
Discussion of Fairbanks-Morse locomotive products. Official web site can be found here: www.fairbanksmorse.com.

Moderator: pablo

  by 2spot
 
2spot wrote:Actually, Canadian Pacific had 5 Trainmasters that had full width short hoods equipped with steam generators.
I should note here that Canadian Pacific also had four H16-44s that had Steam generators for passenger servce but they too werent used for very long before Budd RDCs took over most local passenger service. http://members.shaw.ca/cprclc/H16-44.html
CLC Fan has an excellent site dedicated to Canadian Locomotive Company/Fairbanks Morse units used on the CPR: http://members.shaw.ca/cprclc/

  by RDGTRANSMUSEUM
 
DAVE H. or anybody,Did the Rdg 807 that went to Striegel equipment go to the CNJ or Mexico? I was told 807 went to keep the Cnj units running but what about the carbody? Any info welcomed!

  by David Hutchinson
 
As far as I know, CNJ did not get the 807. Striegel supposedly sent one or more ex-EL TMs to Mexico.Striegel was an interesting place. I went there numerous times during the 1980-1 period and found an ex-PRR H15 or 1644 with the radio antennae still on, a complete PRR E unit A-B-A set, a fully lettered PRR RS-1, a Washington & Old Dominion 70 tonner and more. RDG sent them one of their Alco S-1s which was leased out to a few companies without the top of it's cab. Somewhere along the line, it was cut down.

  by RDGTRANSMUSEUM
 
Interesting stuff. That 807 mystery bugs me,we want to do a book on the Rdg trainmasters and 807 is a major missing link. I would hate to find out information after the book comes out ,wish somebody could help. Did Striegel scrap units too?or mostly sell/lease them ? Thanks Bob

  by David Hutchinson
 
As far as I know, Striegel did mostly parts. The units that I used to see had been there for years. A few units were sold or leased/rented. I have no information to the contrary, but 807 to Striegel bothers me a bit. Most of the FMs went to Naparano. I would suggest reaching out a little more to see if there are any other sources of info out there. By the way, it has been said that TMs were not usually run in three unit sets. I have documentation of three being used on a Port Reading coal train in 1964. The most interesting lashup I saw was 5515 (GP30), 490 (RS-3), 803 (Trainmaster) and 274a (F-7).

  by RDGTRANSMUSEUM
 
I have reserched this 807 off and on for many years. The MP&RE shop card set is in my hands giving the striegel date. Most books back this up,inc. old x2200 south magazines ect. The newer publications give lousy coverage on these units,but you have color! Yes, three unit sets were run right from the start. This was in Colliery service on Frackville grade where 3 TM's worked in MU. Most peolpe do not know the things that went on,only what some so called "expert" wrote in some book. :wink:

Re:

  by keyboardkat
 
dprasse wrote:My favorite railroad , the Illinois Central , just about had 75 of the beasts ...

I'd have loved that .. combine my favorite railroad with my favorite diesel builder .... Wonder what a "Paducah 'Master" would have looked like ? :D
Really? I thought I had read that the IC was very impressed with the Tranmaster's performance and was all set to order 20 or 30 of them, which would have gained F-M greater acceptance in the marketplace and perhaps would have made a difference in the ultimate fate of F-M as a locomotive builder. But F-M had a proxy fight just at that time, and when IC saw the instability of the company, they backed off and the order never came. Perhaps IC had 75 of some other F-M models, but not Trainmasters.
  by Allen Hazen
 
Keyboardkat--
I think dprasse was referring to the same episode you mention: the IC "just about had" (= almost had) some large number of Train Masters. I don't know what the actual number would have been-- perhaps negotiations hadn't gotten to the stage of specifying an exact number when IC management decided FM was too risky a bet. I think I've read 50.
--
IC didn't own any FM locomotives, and indeed had only a very small number of any non-EMD type.