#2790· GM-EMD F3
EMD F3
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Electro-Motive Diesel· from 1945· model of 1500 hp American diesel cab locomotive
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. California Zephyr pre first run 1949: Publisher: Lyman Cox-Photograph: Western Pacific Railroad.· Public domain
- 2. BN 9762 in Yakima Aug 71 NthCstHiRP: Drew Jacksich· CC BY-SA 2.0
what is it?
The EMD F3 is a 1,500-horsepower (1,100 kW) B-B freight- and passenger-hauling carbody diesel locomotive produced between July 1945 and February 1949 by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant. A total of 1,106 cab-equipped lead A units and 694 cabless booster B units were built.
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 81 years ago, in 1945.
- Top speed is 1.3× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
- 1.1 MW is about 13 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 18 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 15.2 m long: about 3 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
- 1945–1949
- number built
- 1,111
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Electro-Motive Diesel
- top speed
- 164 km/h
- power
- 1.1 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- B-B
- length
- 15.2 m
- weight
- 106 t
- Dutch name
- GM-EMD F3
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q17598, Wikipedia: EMD F3 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.