EMD "F2" Locomotives: Specs, Roster, History
Last revised: November 9, 2026
By: Adam Burns
The F2 was a stopgap. Electro-Motive built it only from July through November 1946, 104 locomotives, while the new main generator for a 1,500-horsepower freight cab unit was still late. The 16-cylinder 567B and a revised carbody were ready. The D12 generator was not. The F2 kept the FT’s D8 generator and was rated at 1,350 horsepower. Seventy-four were cab units and thirty were cabless boosters.
Nine railroads bought the cab units. Four of them also bought boosters. The Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México took 28, the Atlantic Coast Line 24, and the Boston & Maine 21. The Rock Island took twelve cab units and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy took ten. Every F2 was later scrapped.
Rock Island F2A 42 leads a westbound freight past Joliet Union Station on October 16, 1966. Roger Puta photo.
On this page: At a glance · Between the FT and the F3 · Spotting features · Who bought them · Specifications · Production roster · What remains
At a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Builder | Electro-Motive Division, General Motors, La Grange, Illinois |
| Model | F2. A 1,350-horsepower freight cab unit between the FT and the F3 |
| Built | 104 locomotives, July 1946 through November 1946. 74 cab units and 30 boosters |
| Why it existed | The 16-567B was ready. The D12 main generator was not. The F2 kept the FT’s D8 generator |
| Engine | EMD 16-567B, 1,350 horsepower at 800 rpm |
| Largest buyers | National Railways of Mexico, 28. Atlantic Coast Line, 24. Boston & Maine, 21 |
| Spotting | Early F3s shared the three-porthole side. Two stacks and four center roof fans separate an F2 from an FT |
| What remains | None. Every F2 was scrapped |
Between the FT and the F3
The FT had shown what a four-axle freight cab unit could do. Electro-Motive built 1,096 of them from November 1939 through November 1945, and wartime limits kept the total there. After the war the builder had a newer engine, the 16-cylinder 567B, and a revised carbody. The rating it wanted was 1,500 horsepower. The new D12 main generator that could support that rating was late. For five months Electro-Motive installed the FT’s D8 generator in the new carbody, held the rating at 1,350 horsepower, and cataloged the locomotive as the F2. Production ran from July through November 1946 and then stopped.
The F3 is the 1,500-horsepower model in that same carbody, once the D12 was available. Field guides count 1,807 F3s. The F7, built from February 1949, is the later catalog model in the same general carbody. The F2 was the bridge that kept locomotives moving out of La Grange while that next step was finished.
What a railroad bought was a freight cab unit it could multiple with other units. A steam generator, when the railroad ordered one, let the same locomotive heat a passenger train. Dynamic braking was the same kind of choice. The F2 was there so the line could keep shipping covered wagons at 1,350 horsepower. It was a short entry in the catalog, and the order list is short enough to print in full.
Spotting features
An F2 and an early F3 share the features fans usually try first. As built, the F2 side carried three portholes and no filter grilles between them, the arrangement later called Type 1. Early F3s left the builder with those same panels, and an owner could change the panels in the shops. The small number boards on the side of the nose were used on some early F3s and on the FT as well. A three-porthole carbody, by itself, does not make the locomotive an F2.
The differences from an FT are the ones that show. An F2 has two exhaust stacks, and an FT has four. The F2 roof carries four radiator fans in a row at the center. The FT carries a pair of fans at each end. That roof followed a change inside the carbody. Electric motors replaced the belt drives for the radiator fans and the traction-motor blowers, and a D14 companion alternator built into the main generator supplied those motors. On a booster, the F2 has no large body overhang at the end, and the trucks sit a little farther in from the ends than they did on an FT.
After a few years in service, the serial number does the work the carbody no longer will. The production roster below is the practical way to call an F2.
Rock Island F2A 38 and other units at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in March 1965. Rick Burn photo.
Who bought them
Nine railroads bought cab units, and four of those nine also bought boosters. The National Railways of Mexico took the largest fleet, 28 locomotives in fourteen cab-and-booster pairs, 6200 through 6213. Two orders covered them, E691 in August through October 1946 and E707 in October. The Atlantic Coast Line took 24, twelve pairs numbered 324 through 335, cab and booster together on order E684. The Boston & Maine took 21. Fifteen of them were cab units 4250 through 4264, with no matching F2 booster. The other six were three cab-and-booster pairs, 4224 through 4226.
Boston & Maine 4225 leads an A-B set of F2s in an experimental livery at Somerville, Massachusetts, during the 1960s. American-Rails.com collection.
The Rock Island took twelve cab units, 38 through 49, and no boosters. The builder’s order list writes those numbers 49 through 38, in reverse. The Rock Island diesel roster on this site leaves which end of serials 2637 through 2648 is No. 38 unfixed. The Burlington took ten cab units and no boosters. The order list gives the numbers in alternation, 150A, 155C, 151A, 156C, 152A, 157C, 153A, 158C, 154A, and 159C, against one serial span, 3018 through 3027.
The Alabama Great Southern, a Southern Railway subsidiary, took two cab units, 6700 and 6701. The next Alabama Great Southern cab units, 6702 through 6705, are F3s, built in November 1946 on the continuation of the same order. The Atlantic & East Carolina took 400 and 401. The New York Central took 1604 and 1605. The Minneapolis & St. Louis took one three-unit set: cab units 147A and 147C and booster 147B.
Specifications
Horsepower stayed at 1,350 because the main generator was the D8. Length is the revised carbody: 50 feet 8 inches over the couplers on a cab unit and 50 feet on a booster. The published weights are 230,000 pounds for the cab and 228,000 pounds for the booster. Dynamic braking and a steam generator were optional. The gear ratio was chosen by the buyer.
| Item | F2A cab | F2B booster |
|---|---|---|
| Builder | Electro-Motive Division, General Motors, La Grange | Same |
| Built | July 1946–November 1946 | Same |
| Engine | EMD 16-567B. Bore 8 1/2 in, stroke 10 in. 1,350 horsepower at 800 rpm | Same |
| Main generator | EMD D8 | Same |
| Alternator | D14 companion alternator, for the electric fans and blowers | Same |
| Trucks | Blomberg B, 9 ft 0 in wheelbase, 40-inch wheels | Same |
| Length over couplers | 50 ft 8 in | 50 ft 0 in |
| Width | 10 ft 7 in | Same over the hood |
| Height | 15 ft 0 in to the top of the horn | The sheet figure is for the cab unit |
| Weight | 230,000 lb on the published sheet | 228,000 lb on the published sheet |
| Fuel | 1,200 gallons | 1,200 gallons |
| Air brakes | Westinghouse 24RL. Gardner-Denver WBO compressor | Same |
| Multiple unit | Yes | Yes |
| Dynamic brakes | Offered | Offered |
| Steam generator | Optional | Optional |
Production roster
Total built = 104. Domestic production was 60 cab units and 16 boosters. Export production was 14 cab units and 14 boosters, all for the National Railways of Mexico. Each row is one builder order. A cab unit and a booster on the same order are separate rows. The rows follow the order list, so two July 1946 orders can sit far apart in the serials.
| Railroad | Road numbers | Qty | Serial numbers | Order | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rock Island | 38–49 | 12 | 2637–2648 | E617 | July 1946 | Cab units. The order list writes 49–38 in reverse. The Rock Island diesel roster leaves which end is 38 unfixed |
| Chicago, Burlington & Quincy | 150A, 155C, 151A, 156C, 152A, 157C, 153A, 158C, 154A, 159C | 10 | 3018–3027 | E648 | July 1946 | Cab units. One serial for each number, in that sequence |
| Boston & Maine | 4250–4264 | 15 | 3070–3084 | E649 | July–August 1946 | Cab units |
| Boston & Maine | 4224A–4226A | 3 | 3085–3087 | E725 | October 1946 | Cab units. The Somerville photograph is numbered 4225 |
| Southern (Alabama Great Southern) | 6700–6701 | 2 | 3376–3377 | E675 | July 1946 | Cab units. 6702–6705, serials 3378–3381, November 1946, are F3 cab units on the continuation of this order |
| Atlantic & East Carolina | 400–401 | 2 | 3419–3420 | E681 | July 1946 | Cab units |
| Atlantic Coast Line | 324–335 | 12 | 3437–3448 | E684 | August–October 1946 | Cab units |
| Minneapolis & St. Louis | 147A, 147C | 2 | 3660–3661 | E702 | November 1946 | Cab units, with booster 147B |
| New York Central | 1604–1605 | 2 | 3771–3772 | E721 | July 1946 | Cab units |
| Boston & Maine | 4224B–4226B | 3 | 3088–3090 | E725 | October 1946 | Boosters for 4224A–4226A |
| Atlantic Coast Line | 324B–335B | 12 | 3449–3460 | E684 | August–October 1946 | Boosters for 324–335 |
| Minneapolis & St. Louis | 147B | 1 | 3662 | E702 | November 1946 | Booster for 147A and 147C |
| Export | ||||||
| National Railways of Mexico | 6200A–6206A | 7 | 3528–3534 | E691 | August–October 1946 | Cab units |
| National Railways of Mexico | 6207A–6213A | 7 | 3690–3696 | E707 | October 1946 | Cab units |
| National Railways of Mexico | 6200B–6206B | 7 | 3535–3541 | E691 | August–October 1946 | Boosters for 6200A–6206A |
| National Railways of Mexico | 6207B–6213B | 7 | 3697–3703 | E707 | October 1946 | Boosters for 6207A–6213A |
Rock Island F2A 46, an Alco FB-1, and other first-generation Electro-Motive units lead a westbound freight past the station at Ottawa, Illinois, on a July afternoon in 1963. Roger Puta photo.
What remains
None of the 104 survives. The F2 is the Electro-Motive F-unit model with no preserved example. The photographs here are Rock Island 42 at Joliet in 1966, Rock Island 38 at Council Bluffs in 1965, Rock Island 46 at Ottawa in 1963, and Boston & Maine 4225 at Somerville in the 1960s. No F2 was built in Canada. General Motors Diesel at London, Ontario, came later, and its covered wagons were F7s.
Related reading
- EMD "F7" Locomotives: Cab, Top Speed, Specs, Rosters
- Rock Island Railroad: Map, Pictures, Logo, History
- Rock Island Diesel Roster: All-Time
- Burlington Railroad (CB&Q): Map, History, Rosters, Photos
- Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Diesel Roster (All-Time)
- Minneapolis and St Louis Railway: "The Peoria Gateway"
- Minneapolis & St. Louis Diesel Roster (All-Time)
- Southern Railway (USA): Map, Locomotives, Logo, History
- New York Central Railroad: Map, History, Logo
- Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (N de M)
Sources
- Andre Kristopans, “EMD Freight Cab Units,” the Electro-Motive order list preserved at utahrails.net, for the domestic F2A and F2B orders. The same compiler’s “GM Export 1946–2016,” also at utahrails.net, for National Railways of Mexico orders E691 and E707.
- Brian Solomon, Electro-Motive E-Units and F-Units: The Illustrated History of North America’s Favorite Locomotives (Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2011), for the late D12 generator and the F2 as the stopgap that used the D8.
- Louis A. Marre, Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years, A Guide to Diesels Built Before 1972 (Milwaukee: Kalmbach, 1995), and Jerry A. Pinkepank, Diesel Spotter’s Guide (Milwaukee: Kalmbach, 1967), for the field-guide totals of 1,096 FTs, 104 F2s, and 1,807 F3s.
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