EMD Model FT

The F-unit roster text by Jim Sandrin, from BRHS Bulletin #4, THE GRAYBACKS ©1982 Burlington Route Historical Society.

Click on diagram to see larger size.

The CB&Q's first experience with F-units came early, when it sampled Electro-Motive's FT demonstrator #103 in 1939. Like most roads, Burlington officials were impressed. But West Burlington shop forces were still finishing up construction on the last group of O-5-a Northerns, and the rest of the steam fleet was in good shape and adequate to handle existing traffic levels, so no immediate plans were made to acquire the new type of power. World War II changed the situation suddenly and dramatically, and by 1943 the War Production Board allotted 64 badly needed FT's to the Q.

	Burlington's F-unit era began in December, 1943 with FT's such as motor 106, seen here near Somonauk, IL, on August 27th, 1945. (photo by L.E. Griffith, from the Corbin-Wagner collection) Click on photo to see larger size.

From the time that they were delivered, the FT's carried A, B, C, or D suffixes to differentiate the individual units. But since the units were drawbar-coupled together, there was no need to display the suffix lettering in a prominent position. Consequently, from 1943 until late in 1951, the only place the suffix could be found lettered on Q F-units was below the Burlington lettering on the units" sides - in nearly invisible one inch characters.

The only modification present on the FT's delivered to the Q which was not on the demonstrator set tested some three years earlier was dynamic braking, ordered to help cope with the undulating profiles of Lines West. This feature became standard on all subsequent freight units intended for mainline use.

The Q FT A-units did not have a light in the nose door as delivered. Subsequently, however, the headlights were moved to the nose door when Mars signal lights were installed in the upper headlight casing in the late 1940's (after the F2's were delivered with Mars lights in 1946).

Units 101CD and 102CD were renumbered in May 1946 to 201CD and 202CD in anticipation of being mated with F2 A-units then on order. Instead, the 10 F2-A's were delivered in July as 150A-154A and 155C-159C, and the first five four unit FT sets were renumbered to match (see notes 1 and 2).

The F2-A/FT-B/FT-A sets were then semi-permanently coupled into 4050 horsepower locomotives for use where a full four-unit set was unneeded. Why the F2's were "A's" in the first five sets and "C's" in the other five remains open to speculation.

Footnotes

1. Locomotive unit number suffixes that are in parentheses (i.e. A, B, C, D) are for reference only. For instance, locomotive (called "motors" on the CB&Q) #100 was delivered as a four unit single motor, later broken up (see footnote #2 below) before suffixes were applied to numberboards. The suffix did appear on the sides of the individual units in one inch high letters below the BURLINGTON lettering from delivery to about 1951.

2. FT number series 100 through 104 were broken up and renumbered in 1946 and combined with 10 F-2's to produce FT-2 series 150 through 159. The FT series 100, for example, became FT-2 150, using an F2 (later renumbered 150A) and FT 100 (using the "A" and "B" units), and FT-2 151, using an F-2 and FT 100 ("C" and "D"), and so on.

3. FT numbers 101C, 101D, 102C, and 102D were renumbered 201C, 201D, 202C, and 202D respectively on 5/46, in anticipation of mating them to the F-2 units on order. Instead, the F-2's were delivered on 7/46 in the 150-159 series, so the FT's were renumbered once again on 8/46 as 154B, 154C, 155B, and 155A respectively.

Summarizing:

101C > 201C > 154B
101D > 201D > 154C
102C > 202C > 155B
102D > 202D > 155A