 FM Erie-built #981A. Howard Moore photograph from the collection of John Bruce. |
Fairbanks-Morse built diesel engines for US submarines during the Second World War and entered the locomotive market as a means of continuing to sell its diesel motors. Their first road locomotive apparently did not have a formal model designation and has become known as the "Erie-built" locomotive, because assembly of the F-M components took place at the General Electric plant in Erie, Pennsylvania. (At this time GE was supplying electrical components to Alco and building lightweight diesels and main line electric locomotives, but had no competing line of diesel road locomotives.)
The first set of UP Erie-built FM units was also the original FM Erie-built prototype. The set was numbered 50-M-1A, 50-M-3B, and 50-M-2A, delivered December 1945. These were tested on the Los Angeles and Salt Lake in freight service, assigned to LA&SL passenger service after six months, and resulted in additional orders for Erie-builts, all for LA&SL passenger service. The first set was renumbered 981A, 983B, and 982A in 8/46. Four new units 984A, 985A, 986B, and 987B were delivered 6-10/47. These existing units were then renumbered as 700-703, 700B, 702B, and 703B in 5/48. New units 704-707, 704B, and 706B arrived in 3-4/48. All sets were used primarily between Los Angeles and Ogden in passenger service, where they operated either as pure sets or in multiple with Alco PA-1s. In this service they operated on secondary trains like the Utahn and the Los Angeles Limited. However, one photo shows an Erie-built B unit running in multiple with a UP E6A as the only road power on the City of San Francisco on Sherman Hill, presumably a result of motive power shortages following the change of the Streamliners to daily operation in 1947. The Erie-built units were renumbered to the 650 series and transferred to freight service in 1953, and transferred to the Northwest in 1954. They were retired between 1960 and 1962.
FM made numerous production changes to trucks, windshield shape, and other minor details during the period when UP was purchasing Erie-builts. UP's first units, 50-M-1A and 50-M-2A, which became 981A/700/650 and 982A/701/651, had low windshields and fabricated trucks. The 1947 units, 984A/702/652 and 985A/703/653, had high windshields and fabricated trucks. Both the first and second deliveries had recesses at the rear of the units at the handrail/step location. The final delivery, 704-707, had cast trucks, high windshields, and no recesses at the rear of the unit.
There are numerous photos that show UP's units equipped with large spark arrestors. There appear to be two designs, both being made from heavy wire netting, with openings of approximately 1/2 to 3/4 inch. The earlier design is simply an arch, with what appears to be a radius of approximately 30 inches, and a width of 12 inches. The later design appears to have the same radius, but is raised about 12 inches.
Modelers have used the Athearn PA-1 body and chassis as a basis for kitbashing Erie-builts using other body and detail parts from the former AHM FM C-Liner model. While the raw materials are easily and inexpensively obtained at swap meets, this is a major project and involves attempting to create a useful model from now-outdated moldings whose details do not accurately correspond to Erie-builts in the first place.
In early 2001, Proto 1000 issued models of Erie built A and B units, including ones painted for Union Pacific. To keep the selling price down to an easier-to-afford cost, Life-Like chose to use the drive components from its previous Alco PA/PB models, with cast truck sideframes. The cast truck used on the Alco units differed from the Erie-built cast truck in two areas. First is the truck frame itself. The F-M truck had a flat top, and the Alco truck had an arched top. Second, the F-M truck had a third brake cylinder on the middle axle, while the Alco truck did not.
For the actual locomotive carbody, the particular prototype that Life-Like chose to model is accurate for the second group delivered to UP, with final numbers of 652, 653, 652B, and 653B, except that these four units had the earlier fabricated trucks. It is possible that the 1945 and 1947 orders were delivered with single headlights, but photos of all UP Erie builts show that they must have received dual headlights early in their careers. These models have a single headlight, smooth cab roof, smooth nose mounting for classification lights, ladder at the rear of fuel tanks, and recessed area at the rear of the carbody side for handrails.
To model the later four cab units and two booster units delivered to UP with cast trucks, with final numbers of 654-657 and 654B-656B, a modeler would have to fill in the handrail recesses at the carbody rear. [This review is largely from the Don Strack Streamliner e-mail cited below]
The model runs better than earlier Proto 1000 locos, and with good weight and a powered B unit is a better choice than more expensive Proto 2000 E units for running long trains of brass passenger cars.
Other
Collector quality brass Erie-builts in A-B-A sets painted for UP were available from Overland Models in the late 1990s, at an extravagant price. Alco Models and possibly other importers have previously brought in brass HO Erie-builts.
References:
Go back to Union Pacific locomotive details
Updated: 8th January 2001
to Donald Kinney (EMail: kinney@ndak.net)