Talk:EMD F2

The First F2s
The original four unit F2 demonstrator #291A1, 291B1, 291B2, 291A2 was built in July 1945. The new F2 was supposed to be a 1500 horsepower machine. But EMD could not get the full 1500 horsepower rating out of the new D12 generator in the demonstrators. The F unit production line was shut down in November 1945 with the last FTs built and EMD intended to produce the new units in 1946. But EMD did not produce another F unit until July 1946 because of the problems with the D12 generator. The F2 as-built was offered by EMD as a 1350 horsepower unit with the old D8 Generator to fill the needs of a few railroads that wanted freight diesels and could not wait for EMD to work the bugs out of the D12 generator. When the D12 generator was able to be rated at 1500 horsepower the new F3 model was announced and the F2 demonstrators became F3s. See "EMD's F2 - An Interim Model" by Warren Calloway, Dan Cupper, and Paul Withers from Diesel Era Volume 7 Number 2 March/April 1996, pages 31-46 for the complete story. --SSW9389 (talk) 13:20, 2 May 2008 (UTC)