Chicago & Eastern Illinois Diesel Roster (All-Time)

Published: October 19, 2026

The Chicago & Eastern Illinois diesel fleet was small, and it was enough. Three E7s in 1946 ended a plan for a 4-8-4. F3s from La Grange in 1948, and FP7s in 1949, finished the passenger trains. GP7s arrived in 1950, the year Mikado 1944 made the last steam run, at Vincennes on May 5. The table counts 143 frames, each once. A renumber is the same locomotive.

Chicago and Eastern Illinois BL1 202 and an F3A in Chicago in September 1959

BL1 202 and an F3A in Chicago in September 1959. 202 was Electro-Motive demonstrator 499.

On this page: At a glance · Switchers · Cab units · Road switchers · Roster

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Chicago & Eastern Illinois. Mark CEI. Company history
This table	All-time diesels, each frame once. A renumber is the same locomotive
Switchers	31. Two EMC SW engines, five SW1s, one HH600, four S1s, one VO-660, four RS1s, six NW2s, and eight SW7s
Cab units	37. Three E7As, one E9Am, sixteen F3As, seven F3Bs, and ten FP7s
Road switchers	75. One BL1, two BL2s, thirty GP7s, eight GP9s, three GP30s, and thirty-one GP35s
Total	143
After the merger	Missouri Pacific GP15-1s 1570–1574 and SD40-2s 3150–3163 were sublettered for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois. They are outside this 143

Switchers

The first diesels were yard engines. Electro-Motive Corporation delivered SW switchers 100 and 101 in January 1938, and Alco delivered high-hood 102 the same month, a 600-horsepower HH600. Five SW1s, 95–99, followed in 1941 and 1942. Four Alco S1s, a Baldwin VO-660, and four RS1s covered the rest of the 1940s switcher buying, along with six NW2s. Number 125 is also the engine listed as 119. Both entries carry builder number 7830. It is one locomotive. Eight SW7s came in 1950. Three of the switchers, S1s 104 and 105 and SW7s 132 and 133, moved to the Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer and are counted here because they carried Chicago & Eastern Illinois numbers. The switchers are 31.

Chicago and Eastern Illinois SW1 96 tied down in the 1960s

SW1 96 tied down in the 1960s. The place is not recorded. American-Rails.com collection.

Cab units

E7A 1100 and 1101 arrived in May 1946, and 1102 in September. Those three engines are the ones that took the place of a proposed 4-8-4. Number 1102 was wrecked. The second 1102, an E9Am of August 1958, builder number 24733, was built with parts from the first and later became Missouri Pacific 43, the engine in the Kansas City photograph on the company page.

F3As 1200–1205 and F3Bs 1300–1301 came in February 1948. Further F3As and F3Bs followed in July, November, and December, sixteen cabs and seven boosters in all. FP7s 1600–1609, ten engines, came in August and September 1949. Numbers 1600–1602 were the second use of those numbers. FP7 1609, with the combined Humming Bird and Georgian at 81st Street on March 31, 1964, is the photograph on the company page. The cab units are 37.

Electro-Motive builder photograph of new Chicago and Eastern Illinois F3s in February 1948

New F3s at Electro-Motive in February 1948. The unit numbers are not on the photograph.

FP7 1608 leaving Chicago with train 93, the combined Georgian and Humming Bird, circa 1966.

Chicago and Eastern Illinois F3A 1201 at Mitchell, Illinois, on November 3, 1963

F3A 1201 between assignments at Mitchell, Illinois, on November 3, 1963. American-Rails.com collection.

Road switchers

BL1 202 was Electro-Motive demonstrator 499, built in September 1947. It is the odd carbody in the Chicago photograph at the top of this page. BL2s 200 and 201 followed in December 1948. The GP7s are numbers 203–232, thirty engines, built from March 1950 into 1951. GP7s 227 and 228 went to the Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer and are in that thirty. GP7 221 was wrecked and GP7 229 was wrecked. Each number was used again, on a GP9M, 221 in August 1958 and 229 in June 1959. Those two are additional frames. GP9s 233–238, six engines, came in 1956 and 1957. The GP9 total, with the two GP9Ms, is eight.

Three GP30s, 239–241, came in June 1963. Thirty-one GP35s, 242–272, came from March 1964 through June 1966. Number 272, the June 1966 engine at the end of that group, is the Granite City photograph on the company page. When the Louisville & Nashville took the Evansville line in 1969, a large share of these road switchers and the cab units went with it or stayed with the Missouri Pacific. The road switchers are 75.

Two Chicago and Eastern Illinois GP35s with hoppers at the Villa Grove depot on May 7, 1966

Two GP35s and a train of hoppers at the Villa Grove, Illinois, depot on May 7, 1966. Roger Puta photo.

After the 1976 merger the Missouri Pacific sublettered GP15-1s 1570–1574 and SD40-2s 3150–3163 for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois. They were Missouri Pacific locomotives. They are not in the 143, and the list that records them does not give builder numbers.

Roster

The quantity column sums to 143. Builder numbers are in the Serial column. Where a printed builder-number cell does not give one number for each engine, the cell is an em dash. Order numbers were not part of this list.

Switchers

Model	Numbers	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Qty	Notes
SW1	95–96	EMD	1855, 1856	—	1942	2	To Interlake Steel L-006 and L-007
SW1	97–99	EMD	1378, 1379, 1474	—	November 1941 and January 1942	3	Later Missouri Pacific 6000 and 6001. 6000 to Granite Mountain Quarries. 6001 to DR 16
SW	100–101	EMC	631, 656	—	January 1938	2	To DMT 101, then Kansas City Southern 205, later 4225
HH600	102	Alco	69045	—	January 1938	1	To Guy Atkinson Contracting 2801
S1	103	Alco	69593	—	October 1941	1
S1	104–105	Alco	69827–69828	—	August 1942	2	To the Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer as 104 and 105, then RELX 704 and 705
S1	106	Alco	73908	—	July 1946	1	Ex-St. Louis & O’Fallon 51. To INLX 85
VO-660	110	Baldwin	64392	—	August 1942	1	To Guy Atkinson Contracting 2802, then LPN 1002
RS1	115–118	Alco	73328–73331	—	April 1945	4	To Marfax Steel. 115 and 118 later CIRR 115 and 118
NW2	125	EMD	7830	—	November 1949	1	Also carried number 119. To Louisville & Nashville 2209
NW2	120–124	EMD	7831–7835	—	—	5	Later 1029–1032 and 1022. 1022 and 1029 to Louisville & Nashville 2207 and 2208
SW7	126–128	EMD	8882–8884	—	February 1950	3	Later 1202–1204. To Louisville & Nashville 2221–2223
SW7	129	EMD	8885	—	February 1950	1	Later 1205. To BRLX 186, then St. Joe Zinc 6
SW7	130	EMD	8886	—	February 1950	1	Later 1206, then Missouri Pacific 1400. Later Union Pacific S9 903
SW7	131	EMD	8887	—	February 1950	1	Later 1207. To USSX 1207, then Boston & Maine 1207
SW7	132–133	EMD	10526–10527	—	June 1950	2	To the Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer as 1208 and 1209

Cab units

Model	Numbers	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Qty	Notes
E7A	1100–1101	EMD	3374–3375	—	May 1946	2	To Louisville & Nashville 798 and 799
E7A	1102	EMD	3585	—	September 1946	1	Wrecked
E9Am	1102	EMD	24733	—	August 1958	1	Second 1102, built with parts from the first. Later Missouri Pacific 43
F3A	1200–1205	EMD	6018–6021, 6004–6005	—	February 1948	6
F3B	1300–1301	EMD	6022–6023	—	February 1948	2
F3A	1400–1403	EMD	6006–6009	—	July 1948	4
F3A	1404–1405	EMD	7850–7851	—	November 1948	2	1405 later Missouri Pacific 750, then 824
F3A	1406–1409	EMD	5998–6001	—	December 1948	4	1407 later Missouri Pacific 751, then 827
F3B	1500–1501	EMD	6010–6011	—	July 1948	2
F3B	1502	EMD	7852	—	November 1948	1	Later Missouri Pacific 751B, then 934B
F3B	1503–1504	EMD	6002–6003	—	December 1948	2	Later Missouri Pacific 752B–753B, then 935B–936B
FP7	1600–1602	EMD	7535–7537	—	August 1949	3	Second use of 1600–1602. To Louisville & Nashville 670–672
FP7	1603–1608	EMD	—	—	August–September 1949	6	To Louisville & Nashville 673–677. Missouri Pacific 941 later 1941
FP7	1609	EMD	7544	—	September 1949	1	Later Missouri Pacific 942

Road switchers

Model	Numbers	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Qty	Notes
BL2	200–201	EMD	6012–6013	—	December 1948	2	Later Missouri Pacific 1600 and 1601
BL1	202	EMD	7428	—	September 1947	1	Electro-Motive demonstrator 499. Later Missouri Pacific 1602
GP7	203–204	EMD	8872–8873	—	March 1950	2	Later Missouri Pacific 68 and 69, second use of those numbers
GP7	205–208	EMD	8874–8877	—	March 1950	4	To Louisville & Nashville 389–392
GP7	209–210	EMD	—	—	March 1950	2	To Louisville & Nashville 393 and 394. 210 later Amtrak 780
GP7	211, 213	EMD	8880, 8894	—	March and April 1950	2	To Louisville & Nashville 395 and 396
GP7	212	EMD	8881	—	March 1950	1	Renumbered 1776, second use of that number
GP7	214–216	EMD	8895–8897	—	April 1950	3	Later Missouri Pacific 79–81. 214 later 85, second use, then 1970
GP7	217–218	EMD	—	—	—	2	Later Missouri Pacific 82 and 83. 83 to Louisville & Nashville 397
GP7	219–220	EMD	10247–10248	—	April 1950	2	To Louisville & Nashville 398 and 399
GP7	221–222	EMD	10249–10250	—	April 1950	2	221 wrecked
GP9M	221	EMD	24753	—	August 1958	1	Second 221. Later Missouri Pacific 86
GP7	223–224	EMD	13266–13267	—	January 1951	2	Later Missouri Pacific 88 and 89
GP7	225–226	EMD	13541–13542	—	January 1951	2	Later Missouri Pacific 90 and 91
GP7	227–228	EMD	13264–13265	—	December 1950 and January 1951	2	To the Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer, then Missouri Pacific 92 and 93
GP7	229	EMD	14657	—	August 1951	1	Wrecked
GP9M	229	EMD	25460	—	June 1959	1	Second 229
GP7	230–232	EMD	14658, 14655–14656	—	August and September 1951	3	Later Missouri Pacific 1634–1636
GP9	233–234	EMD	22013–22014	—	June 1956	2	Missouri Pacific 340–341, then Texas & Pacific 340–341, later Missouri Pacific 1826 and 1827
GP9	235–236	EMD	22015–22016	—	February 1957	2	To Louisville & Nashville 542 and 543
GP9	237–238	EMD	23268–23269	—	February 1957	2	To Louisville & Nashville 544 and 545
GP30	239–241	EMD	28345–28347	—	June 1963	3	To Louisville & Nashville 1058–1060
GP35	242–244	EMD	28958–28960	—	March 1964	3	Later Missouri Pacific 2547–2549
GP35	245–249	EMD	29546–29550	—	June 1964	5	Later Missouri Pacific 2550–2554
GP35	250–254	EMD	29541–29545	—	July 1964	5	Later Missouri Pacific 2555–2559
GP35	255	EMD	29648	—	September 1964	1	Later Missouri Pacific 2560. To Wisconsin Central 4011
GP35	256–259	EMD	29649–29652	—	September 1964	4	Later Missouri Pacific 2561–2564
GP35	260–264	EMD	29653–29657	—	September 1964	5	To Louisville & Nashville 1116–1120
GP35	265–272	EMD	30491–30498	—	June 1966	8	To Louisville & Nashville 1121–1128

Sources

The Diesel Shop, Chicago & Eastern Illinois all-time roster, compiled by John Komanesky, revised June 1, 2022, with updates by Bob Van Derveer. Original road numbers, later Missouri Pacific and subsidiary numbers, builder numbers, models, dates, and dispositions. Extra 2200 South and Railroad Magazine are the sources named on that page. The 143 counts each frame once. NW2 119 and 125 are one engine. GP15-1s 1570–1574 and SD40-2s 3150–3163 are post-merger Missouri Pacific units and are outside the table.
George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition. Three E7s in 1946, F3s from La Grange in 1948, and Mikado 1944 at Vincennes on May 5, 1950. The company page holds the June 6, 1969 Louisville & Nashville sale, including 48 diesel locomotives, and the merger of October 15, 1976.

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Chicago & Eastern Illinois Diesel Roster (All-Time)

At a glance

Switchers

Cab units

Road switchers

Roster

Switchers

Cab units

Road switchers

Related reading on American-Rails.com

Sources