Electro-Motive Diesel

products	Locomotives

parent	Progress Rail (2010–present) Berkshire Partners (2005–2010) General Motors (1930–2005)

num employees	3,260 (2008)

Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010.[1][2]

Electro-Motive Diesel traces its roots to the Electro-Motive Engineering Corporation, founded in 1922 and purchased by General Motors in 1930. After purchase by GM, the company was known as GM's Electro-Motive Division. In 2005, GM sold EMD to Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners and, in 2010, EMD was sold to Progress Rail, a subsidiary of the heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar. After the 2005 sale, the company was renamed to Electro-Motive Diesel.

EMD's headquarters and engineering facilities are based in McCook, Illinois, while its final locomotive assembly line is located in Muncie, Indiana. EMD also operates a traction motor maintenance, rebuild, and overhaul facility in San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

As of 2008, EMD employed approximately 3,260 people,[3] and in 2010 it held approximately 30% of the market for diesel-electric locomotives in North America.[4] Its only significant competitor is Wabtec-owned GE Transportation, which held up to 70% market share of the North American market in 2007.[5]

History

1920s: Foundation

Harold L. Hamilton and Paul Turner founded the Electro-Motive Engineering Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1922, soon renaming it to Electro-Motive Company (EMC).[6][7] The company developed and marketed self-propelled railcars using General Electric's newly developed internal combustion-electric propulsion and control systems.

Hamilton had started his railroading career as a fireman, then locomotive engineer, on the Southern Pacific Railroad. He became a manager with the Florida East Coast Railway before he left railroading for a marketing position with the White Motor Company in Denver, an early manufacturer of trucks and buses. Training and service agreements were part of White's marketing package that Hamilton would carry over to EMC. Aware of the needs of railroad branch line services, and the opportunities provided with GE's new internal combustion-electric propulsion and control technology, he quit his position with White and set up shop in a Chicago hotel with his partner and a designer, to develop and market a new generation of self-propelled railcars.

Manufacturing and assembly facilities

EMD maintains major facilities in McCook, Illinois, and Muncie, Indiana in the United States, Sete Lagoas, Brazil and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The company operated a manufacturing facility in London, Ontario, Canada until its closure in 2012.

EMD La Grange (McCook)

Since its ground breaking in 1935, the La Grange facility has been the headquarters for EMD. In addition to the corporation's administrative offices, La Grange houses design engineering, emissions testing, rebuild operations, and manufacturing of major components, including prime mover engines, traction alternators, electrical cabinets, and turbochargers. The La Grange facility includes three main buildings, with over 1200000 sqft of office and manufacturing space. Ancillary buildings are used to provide maintenance and testing capabilities. EMD La Grange is ISO 9001:2008 Certified for Quality and ISO 14001 Certified for Environmental Management. A large part of the property's land has been sold off including the land where the original factory building stood. With the sale of the land, the large sign of "Electro Motive Division" that stood at the corner of 55th St. and East Ave. was removed but is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum.

EMD London

The EMD London plant, in London, Ontario

Maintenance and support facilities

EMD also provides maintenance services, technical support, parts inventory, and sales and marketing services from many other locations spread throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, Egypt, and South Africa.

Engines

Locomotive engines

EMD has produced this series of engines:

EMD 567 – The 567 was produced from 1938 through 1965, named for its displacement-per-cylinder of 567.45 in3 (bore 8½ inches, stroke 10 inches). Other design features: two-cycle (or two-stroke), Roots-blown, Uniflow-scavenged, Unit-injected, overhead camshafts, four exhaust valves per cylinder. Built in V-6, V-8, V-12 and V-16 configurations. 567AC, 567BC, 567C, 567D and "567E" engines may be retrofitted with 645 Power assemblies and other major components, mainly for so-called "life-extension" programs; 567E engines are actually 645E blocks which were originally manufactured with 567 power assemblies
EMD 645 – "E- and F-Engines"; in production by request; most 645 major assemblies remain in new production for replacement purposes
EMD 710 – "G-Engine"; in production, but locomotive versions are restricted to use outside the U.S. due to EPA Tier 4 emissions regulations taking effect in 2015; mechanical unit injectors on pre-1995 engines, electronically controlled unit injectors on post-1995 engines. The 710G engine has passed tier 4 regulations.
EMD 265

Reporting marks

The following reporting marks are listed for rolling stock:

EMDX – Electro-Motive Division Leasing
EMLX – Electro-Motive Division Leasing
GMCX – General Motors
GMDX – General Motors Diesel Canada

External links

Official website (archived, 8 Feb 2014)
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF EMD at Progress Rail
EMD China (archived, 30 Jul 2010)
EMD Locomotives at The-Bluprints.com

References

EMD - Company - Company Overview - About Electro-Motive Diesel emdiesel.com, Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc, 2010^
Progress Rail Services Finalizes Electro-Motive Diesel Acquisition www.cat.com, Caterpillar Inc, 2010-08-02^
Company profile from Hoover's - Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc.

The General Motors years

1930s

In 1930, General Motors (GM) was seeking to enter production of diesel engines and broaden their range of applications. They purchased the Winton Engine Company, who had in their product line a variety of stationary and marine diesel engines and spark-ignition engines for heavy vehicles. GM saw EMC's role in developing and marketing Winton-engined heavy vehicles as fitting their objectives and purchased the company shortly after the Winton acquisition, renaming it Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC), a subsidiary of GM. Supported by the GM Research Division headed by Charles F. Kettering, GM's Winton Engine Corporation focused on developing diesel engines with improved power-to-weight ratios and output flexibility suitable for mobile use.[8] Eugene W. Kettering, son of Charles Kettering, led Winton's side of the development project.

In 1933, EMC designed the power setups for the Zephyr and M-10000 streamliners, a breakthrough in the power and speed available with their propulsion systems. The Zephyr used the first major product of the new GM-Winton venture, a 600 hp, eight cylinder version of the Winton 201A Roots blown, uniflow scavenged, unit injected, 2-stroke diesel engine. As the Budd and Pullman Standard companies entered contracts to build more diesel-powered streamliners, they became major customers for EMC. Diesel power had been shown suitable for small, lightweight, high speed trains, in addition to its more established role in yard service.

Seeing opportunities to broaden the role of diesel in railroading, EMC invested in a new locomotive factory and started development work on the locomotives that it would produce.[6][7][9] The factory headquarters on 55th Street in McCook, Illinois, west of Chicago, remains the corporate headquarters.[10] The 1935 EMC 1800 hp B-B development design locomotives featured the multiple-unit control systems that became the basis of cab/booster locomotive sets, and the twin engine format that would be adopted for the newest Zephyr power units in 1936 and EMC's E series streamlined passenger locomotives that their new factory began producing in 1937. Prior to their introduction of the E units EMC was in production of switch engines, which remained the mainstay of their production until dieselization of freight and passenger service hit full stride in the mid-1940s.

The GM-Winton research and development effort continued through the mid-1930s, building on experience with the Winton 201A, to develop diesel engines to better meet the specific needs of locomotive use. The fruit of that effort was GM's new 567 engine, introduced by their renamed Cleveland Diesel Engine Division in 1938. The new engine upgraded the horsepower of EMC's E series locomotives to 2000 per locomotive unit and increased reliability substantially. Also in 1938, EMC increased its reach up the chain of locomotive production by transitioning from General Electric equipment to in-house produced generators and traction motors. With Eugene Kettering moving to EMC that year, EMC moved into a leading role in further development of GM's locomotive engines.

GM-Winton-EMC's long development efforts put the company in an advantageous position relative to other developers of diesel-electric locomotion. Their nearest competitor was the American Locomotive Company (ALCO), who had produced diesel-electric switch engines since the mid-1920s, provided motive power for the Rebel streamliner trainsets in 1935, and started production of development design locomotives to compete with the E-units in 1939. EMC's other main competitor, the Baldwin Locomotive Works, had their development work with diesel delayed by their belief through the 1930s that the future of mainline service remained with steam, and by financial difficulties that effectively froze their diesel development while EMC and ALCO continued theirs. Baldwin started producing diesel-electric switch engines in 1939.

Passenger trains made little money for the railroads, but replacement of steam engines with reliable diesel units could provide railroads with a crucial difference for profitability. With standardized production of locomotives, EMC simplified the processes for ordering, manufacturing, and servicing locomotives and introduced economies of scale that would lower unit costs. EMC offered support services including financing, training, and field maintenance that would ease the transition from steam to diesel and boost their market in the last years before US entry into World War II. The performance of the new 567 engine in passenger locomotives also built confidence in the viability of diesel power for freight service.

In 1939, the company built a four-unit freight locomotive demonstrator, the FT, and began a tour of the continent's railroads. The tour was a success. Western railroads in particular saw that the diesels could free them from dependence on scarce water supplies for steam locomotives. In 1940, after incorporating dynamic braking at the suggestion of customers, they were receiving their first orders for the new freight locomotive.

1940s

General Motors moved production of locomotive engines under the authority of EMC to create the GM Electro-Motive Division (EMD) on January 1, 1941.[9] With that move, EMD became a fully self-contained development, production, marketing, and service entity. Nonlocomotive products (large marine and stationary diesel engines) continued under GM's Cleveland Diesel Engine Division for another twenty years.

In January 1941 EMD delivered the first FT unit to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, numbered Unit 100, and through that year they were in full-stride production of road and switch locomotives, becoming the world's biggest producer. America's entry into World War II temporarily slowed EMD's locomotive production; United States Navy ships gained priority for diesel power and the petroleum crisis of 1942-43 made coal-fired steam a more attractive option. The War Production Board stopped production of new passenger equipment between September 1942 and December 1944. Later in the war, diesel locomotive production for freight service was picking up as more locomotives were needed to haul wartime supplies. By the time the FT model was replaced in 1945, 555 cab units and 541 booster units had been produced.

EMD emerged from the war years with major advantages over its competitors in diesel locomotive production, having entered them with fully developed lines of mainline road diesel locomotives while war production allocations restricted their competitors, principally the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and the Baldwin Locomotive Works

1950s

In 1950, EMD's new plant in London, Ontario, Canada, began production. The plant was operated by the Canadian subsidiary General Motors Diesel (GMD), producing existing EMD as well as unique GMD designs for the Canadian domestic and export markets. GMD were, as a Canadian concern, able to sell products to other British Commonwealth nations without the tariffs encumbering trade with non-Commonwealth nations, gaining the same market access as ALCO and Baldwin through their subsidiaries Montreal Locomotive Works and Canadian Locomotive Company.

EMD's road-switcher locomotives with power and reliability sufficient for mainline use overturned the market for freight locomotives, soon displacing their competitors' road-switchers, then later their own F-series carbody locomotives. The GP9 became the most-produced EMD model ever, with 4,112 A units and 165 B units sold between 1954 and 1963. Owing to their ease of maintenance and versatility, most locomotives sold in North America since the introduction of the GP9 have been road-switcher, or hood, units. Flush-sided locomotives based on a road-switcher chassis, or cowl units, would later be produced for passenger service.[12][13][14]

1960s

As the 1960s opened EMD was compelled to respond to the challenge offered by GE's U25B, upgrading the features of their GP (General Purpose) and SD (Special Duty/Standard Duty) series locomotives, boosting the power of their 567 engines, then developing the more powerful 645 engines. Those endeavors as well as the feature upgrades introduced with the SD40-2 were sufficient to maintain EMD's competitive advantage over GE until the mid-1980s.

In 1962 GM moved their remaining production of large non-locomotive diesel engines from Cleveland to the EMD facility in McCook, ending the existence of the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division.[15]

In late 1965, EMD introduced the enlarged 645 engine. Power ratings were 1500 hp V-12 nonturbocharged, 1500 hp V-8 turbocharged, 2300 hp V-12 turbocharged, 2000 hp V-16 nonturbocharged, and 3000 hp V-16 turbocharged. In late 1965 EMD built their first twenty-cylinder engine, a turbocharged 3600 hp V20 for the EMD SD45. The final variant of the sixteen cylinder 645 (the 16-645F) produced 3500 hp.

1970s

In 1972, EMD introduced modular control systems with the Dash-2 line; the EMD SD40-2 became one of the most successful diesel locomotive designs in history, both in terms of sales and service longevity. A total of 3,945 SD40-2 units were built.[16]

1980s

EMD introduced their new 710 engine in 1984 with the 60 Series locomotives (EMD SD60 and EMD GP60), the EMD 645 engine continued to be offered in certain models (such as the 50 Series) until 1988. The 710 is produced as an eight-, twelve-, sixteen-, and twenty-cylinder engine for locomotive, marine and stationary applications. Concurrently with the introduction of the 710, EMD's control systems on locomotives changed to microprocessors, with computer-controlled wheel slip prevention, among other systems.

EMD's North American market share dropped below that of its main competitor General Electric in 1987.[17][18] After the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement came into effect in 1989, EMD decided to consolidate all locomotive production at the Diesel Division of General Motors of Canada (formerly GMD) plant in London, Ontario, a development which ended locomotive production at the La Grange, Illinois plant in 1991, although the Illinois facility continued to produce engines and generators.

1990s

In the late 1980s and 1990s EMD introduced AC induction motor drive in EMD locomotives using Siemens technology.[19] In the early 1990s, EMD introduced the radial steering truck, which reduced wheel and track wear. In 1995 EMD replaced mechanical unit injectors with electronically controlled unit injectors on its 710 engines.

In 1998 EMD introduced the four-stroke sixteen cylinder 265H-Engine, used as the prime mover in the EMD SD90MAC-H locomotive. Instead of completely replacing the 710 series engine, the H-engine was concurrently produced alongside EMD's two stroke engines, although mainly for export. Acceptance of the 265H was limited over reliability issues. The 265H, at 6300 hp, was the most powerful engine ever produced by EMD and the first four-stroke engine offered to the market by EMD or its ancestral companies since the Winton 201A introduced their breakthrough in two-stroke diesel power in 1934.

In 1999, Union Pacific placed the largest single order for diesel locomotives in North American railroad history when they ordered 1,000 units of the EMD SD70M. Union Pacific's fleet of SD70Ms has since been expanded by more than 450 additional units. In addition, Union Pacific also owns nearly 500 EMD SD70ACe locomotives, six of which have been painted in "Fallen Flags" (acquired/merged railroads) commemorative liveries. All of these locomotives are 710G-powered.

Subcontractors and licensees

The company also entered into subcontracting and licensing arrangements, both for whole locomotives, and diesel and electrical drivetrains (genset plus traction motors and control electronics).

In Europe, licensees included Henschel (Germany) from the 1950s-80s which manufactured locomotives for export to African, South Asian, and Scandinavian countries, as well as Austria;[40] NOHAB (Sweden) from the 1950s-70s,[41][42] and after NOHAB's closure Kalmar Verkstad (KVAB) (Sweden) in the 1980s.[42] When the KVAB and Henschel factories were acquired by ABB in 1990, EMD-licensed manufacture ended.[42]

In Belgium, EMD-engined locomotives were manufactured by Société Franco-Belge, and then by La Brugeoise et Nivelles in the 1950s and 60s.[43][44]

In Spain, MACOSA and its successors assembled and manufactured EMD locomotives, including standard EMD export designs as well as variants for the domestic market,[45] as of 2011 EMD-engined diesels are still manufactured in Spain as the Vossloh Euro series.

Đuro Đaković of Croatia (Yugoslavia) also held a license from EMD and manufactured locomotives for the Yugoslav Railways.[46]

By 2000, EMD had produced with its collaborators around 300 locomotives using EMD technology in Scandinavia, 500 in western Europe, and 400 in eastern Europe.[47] Approximately 75% of EMD's European locomotives sold by 2000 were license-built in Europe.[47] The company also entered into a collaboration (early 2000s) with Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant (Russia) (Людиновский тепловозостроительный завод), (now part of Sinara Group) creating a single-body eight axle 3MW (Bo'Bo')'(Bo'Bo')' diesel locomotive ТЭРА1, powered by an EMD 710 16-cylinder engine.[47][48] In the early 2010s the company began a collaboration with Croatian rolling stock company TŽV Gredelj.[49]

Locomotives were also assembled by General Motors Industria Argentina, General Motors South Africa, and under license by Delta Motor Corporation (South Africa), Equipamentos Villares (Brazil), and Hyundai (Korea).[50] Bombardier Transportation has also acted as subcontractor, manufacturing units at its plant in Ciudad Sahagún, Mexico since 1998, with over 1,000 locomotives completed by 2007. The manufacturing agreement continued under Progress Rail ownership.[51]

In Australia, Clyde Engineering used EMD components in locally manufactured locomotives beginning in the 1950s.[52] That company was absorbed into what eventually became Downer Rail.[53][54]

In India, the Banaras Locomotive Works (DLW) manufactured EMD designs from the late 1990s to late 2010s. In 2010, EMD announced its intention to establish its own manufacturing facility in India, potentially in Bihar, through a PPP project with the state government, or in Uttar Pradesh.[55] As of 2011 EMD's cooperative development association with Indian Railways is ongoing.[56]

In China, CRRC Dalian has manufactured the EMD-designed units China Railway HXN3 (JT56ACe) since 2008.[57]

In 2012, the EMD formed a joint venture with Barloworld, Electro-Motive Diesel Africa (Proprietary) Limited, to supply locomotive and rail-related products to the sub-saharan African market.[58] In September 2012, EMD also signed a deal with Bombardier Transportation; Bombardier's factory in Savli, India, would assemble EMD products for Asian customers.[59]

Stationary and marine engines

Most of the above locomotive engines were available, in modified form, for stationary and marine work. Marine engines differ from railroad and stationary engines mainly in the shape and depth of the engine's oil sump, which has been altered to accommodate the rolling and pitching motions encountered in marine applications.

EMD "pancake" diesels

A new aluminum block lightweight compact engine was designed that ran at a higher rpm. These engines feature a vertical crankshaft and the cylinders were arranged in an X pattern of four cylinder banks in four cylinder rows. These were the 16-184 and 16-338 "pancake" engines. The 16-388 engine was 13.5 ft from the base of the generator to the top of the air intake filter and 4 ft wide. It is a mechanically injected two-stroke diesel engine that used a Roots blower. The 16-184A was installed in some 110 ft subchasers of the SC-497-class submarine chaser during World War II. The two 1,540 bhp 16-184A diesel engines driving two shafts produced a faster subchaser that achieved 21 knots.[60]

The EMD 16-338 developed 1090 bhp at 1600 rpm. On the top was an air intake then four layers of four cylinders each. Each cylinder had a 6 in bore and a 6+1/2 in stroke. On the bottom of the crank shaft was an Elliot generator which developed 817 kW at a maximum of 710 volts DC. This proved problematic as the engine fluids ran down into the generator. The whole engine weighed just over eight tons. Being 4 feet wide it allowed for four engines in an engine room only 22 ft long and also allowed design engineers to eliminate a submarine engine room.[61] The Tang-class submarine and the research submarine USS Albacore (AGSS-569) used the troublesome EMD 16-338. On the Tang-class the Navy decided to replace the "pancake" engines with ten-cylinder Fairbanks-Morse opposed-piston 38D 8-1/8 diesels. The unreliability and lack of spares led to the decommissioning of USS Albacore in 1972 as further cannibalized parts became unavailable.[62][63]

former names	Electro-Motive Engineering Corporation (1922) Electro-Motive Company (1922–30) Electro-Motive Corporation (1930-1940) Electro-Motive Division (1941-2004)
type	Subsidiary
foundation	August 31, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States
founder	Harold L. Hamilton Paul Turner
location city	La Grange, Illinois
location country	United States
industry

Electro-Motive Diesel

History

1920s: Foundation

Manufacturing and assembly facilities

EMD La Grange (McCook)

EMD London

Maintenance and support facilities

Engines

Locomotive engines

Reporting marks

See also

External links

References

The General Motors years

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s: Greenbriar and Berkshire years

The Caterpillar / Progress Rail years

2010s

2020s

2010s

2020s

EMD San Luis Potosí

EMD Muncie

Subcontractors and licensees

Stationary and marine engines

EMD "pancake" diesels

EMD "pancake" diesels