#2544
EMC EA/EB
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Electro-Motive Diesel· from 1937· model of 1800 hp American passenger cab diesel locomotive
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Capitol Limited EMD EA and Tom Thumb 1937: Wide World Photos· Public domain
what is it?
The EMC EA/EB is an early passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built from May 16, 1937, to 1938 by Electro-Motive Corporation of La Grange, Illinois for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. They were the first model in a long line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units. Each locomotive unit developed 1,800 horsepower (1,300 kW) from two 900 hp (670 kW) Winton 201-A diesel engines, driving the wheels through an electric transmission—the generator driven by each engine provided current for traction motors.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 89 years ago, in 1937.
- Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
- 1.3 MW is about 16 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- 21.1 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1937–1938
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 12
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Electro-Motive Diesel
- operators
- Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Alton Railroad, Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
- top speed
- 160 km/h
- power
- 1.3 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- A1A-A1A
- length
- 21.1 m
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5323376, Wikipedia: EMC EA/EB (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.