by steamal
Why doesn't Ford Motor Co. make locomotives?
Railroad Forums
Moderator: John_Perkowski
JoeG wrote:General Motors doesn't make locomotives either. They spun off EMD a couple of years ago. Neither does Chrysler.steamal's answer:
General Motors had an 80% market share of American railroad diesels at its peak, but lost market share to GE. Last I saw, GE is the market leader.
It's apparently hard to make a profit making diesel-electric locomotives in North America. The old-line steam locomotive companies all failed at making profitable diesels. In the end, GM decided not to continue in the business.
There's no reason to think that Ford could make a profit making locomotives.
BlackDog wrote:GM is so screwed up I'll bet they forgot they made locomotives for 30 years. When they found out, they said "What's this all about? We are an auto manufacturer. Get rid of it!"Someone told me that they knew someone who worked for the Lehigh Valeey R.R. who went to a car dealership with serial numbers for window glass used in EMD Locomotive and was able to get replacement glass for a locomotive. This would have been in the late 50's early 60's.