#2629
EMD E6
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Electro-Motive Diesel· from 1939· model of 2000 hp American passenger cab diesel locomotive
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Rock Island locomotive 630: Russell Meier· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. City of Portland Union Pacific Railroad EMD E6A: Audio Visual Designs, Earlton, NY./Photo:Union Pacific Railroad.· Public domain
what is it?
The EMC E6 is a 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW), A1A-A1A, streamlined passenger train locomotive manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation, and its corporate successor, General Motors Electro-Motive Division, of La Grange, Illinois. The cab version, E6A, was manufactured from November 1939 to September 1942; 91 were produced. The booster version, E6B, was manufactured from April 1940 to February 1942; 26 were produced.
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 87 years ago, in 1939.
- Top speed is 1.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 13 minutes.
- 1.5 MW is about 18 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 24 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 21.3 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
- 1939–1942
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 91
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Electro-Motive Diesel
- top speed
- 187 km/h
- power
- 1.5 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- A1A-A1A
- length
- 21.3 m
- weight
- 141 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q12057133, Wikipedia: EMD E6 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.