FM "Erie-Built" Locomotives

Last revised: March 6, 2022

By: Adam Burns

The Erie-Built's were Fairbanks Morse's first cab design it ever cataloged.  While largely designed as a passenger model, aimed at competing against Electro-Motive's successful E series, the Erie's were also offered with freight gearing.

In addition, their looks rivaled Alco's beautiful PA design as well as EMD's E series.  Fairbanks Morse worked incredibly hard to market a passenger model that could effectively hold its own against the leading manufacturers.

Incredibly, FM never really gave the locomotive a formal name; railfans coined the term "Erie Built" after FM elected to outsource manufacturing to General Electric at its Erie, Pennsylvania plant.

When the locomotives initially entered production in late 1945, FM did not have available capacity to build them.  In an effort to keep up with the competition, company officials elected to utilize General Electric, as GE was also supplying internal electrical equipment (traction motors, generators, etc.)

Fairbanks Morse did make several initial sales with the Erie-Built but overall failed to truly compete against either EMD or Alco.

In an ironic twist, both FM and American Locomotive cataloged passenger models which were quite aesthetically pleasing, featuring a long nose, sloped windshield, and clean streamlining. 

Unfortunately, neither could rival Electro-Motive's "E" series, which dominated the market until it was retired in the late 1950's.

Santa Fe's only A-B-A set of "Erie-Builts" is seen here in front of the beautiful station at San Diego, California, circa 1950. American-Rails.com collection.

Erie-Built History And Background

Fairbanks Morse's cab models basically all carried a similar appearance, not unlike Alco's FA and PA.  FM introduced its cab line in an effort to compete against Electro-Motive's highly successful E and F series.

The first of these was known simply as the "Erie-Built" because the carbody was manufactured by General Electric at its Erie, Pennsylvania plant.

In 1950, however, the company introduced a formal line of passenger units known as the “Consolidated Line,” commonly referred today as C-Liners.  These later models were available in three different variations; 1,600, 2,000, and 2,400 horsepower.

The Erie-Builts began production in December of 1945; they featured a look somewhat similar to the PA with a long, graceful nose followed by a sweeping, streamlined body behind the cab. Overall, it was a very classy and elegant locomotive.

The Erie-Builts utilized A1A-A1A trucks and produced a hearty 2,000 horsepower, equipped with the builder's 2-cycle 38D8 1/8, 10-cylinder opposed-piston prime mover.

The locomotive's continuous tractive effort ranged from 26,200 to 41,000 pounds depending on the gear ratio chosen.  Aesthetically, some of the best remembered Erie-Builts were those constructed for the Milwaukee Road. 

Manufactured between December of 1945 and March of 1947 the locomotives powered the famous Olympian Hiawatha between Chicago and the Pacific Coast at Seattle.

They were clad in Milwaukee’s beautiful two-tone red/orange livery with chrome plating around the nose with Olympian Hiawatha included just under each side the cab. 

It was a very graceful, albeit brief look.   Surprisingly, the Erie-Builts sold relatively well (by Fairbanks Morse standards anyway) with 111 units outshopped by the time the builder had ceased construction in April of 1949.

An A-B-A set of Milwaukee Road's "Erie-Built" locomotives, which powered the original transcontinental "Olympian Hiawatha" (Chicago - Seattle), are seen here in Milwaukee during the late 1940s.

In all, seven Class Is purchased the diesel including the Santa Fe, Chicago & North Western, Milwaukee Road, New York Central, Kansas City Southern, Pennsylvania, and Union Pacific.

The Canadian roads never did bite on the design and as such no orders were taken through subsidiary Canadian Locomotive Works.  However, they did purchase a handful of C-Liners.

Erie-Built Data Sheet

* This A-B-A set became Union Pacific 50-M-1A, 50-M-3B, 50-M-2A.  They were soon renumbered as 981A, 983B, and 982A. 

Gearing Options (Freight Units)

Gearing Options (Passenger Units)

Erie-Built Production Roster (Passenger Units)

Erie-Built Production Roster (Freight Units)

In this Union Pacific publicity photo an A-B-A set of "Erie Builts" have the eastbound "Pony Express" in Nevada's Rainbow Canyon south of Caliente during the mid-1950's.

The later C-Liners were a bit unorthodox as passenger locomotives with an odd B-A1A truck arrangement resulting in very few railroads purchasing it. 

The freight model, offered in a range of horsepower ratings, did a little better but in the end, FM gave up on the cab design altogether by 1953. 

Today, no Erie-Builts are known to survive.  Interestingly, a piece of this unique model lives on in Doyle McCormack's restored Alco PA #190.

The unit's trucks (designed by General Steel Castings) were salvaged for the restoration as they came from a scrapped Erie-Built, which had been converted for use by the Canadian Pacific in rail trains to lay continuous welded rail (CWR). Today, that PA is once again operational.

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