#4205
EMD F40C
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Electro-Motive Diesel· from 1974· class of 15 American 3200hp Co′Co′ diesel-electric locomotives
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Metra605-MILW-chicagoIL: Lexcie· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. Metra F40C 614 - July 2009: Franklin Campbell· CC BY 2.0
what is it?
The EMD F40C is a 6-axle 3,200 horsepower (2.4 MW) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division in 1974 for commuter service in Chicago. EMD only built 15 locomotives; the decline of the 6-axle design for passenger service led to the adoption of the 4-axle EMD F40PH as the standard passenger locomotive in the United States. Along with a small fleet of HEP-equipped EMD SD70MAC locomotives operating on the Alaska Railroad, the F40Cs were the last six-axle passenger locomotives in daily service in mainland North America until the delivery of Metra's first SD70MACH in 2022.
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 52 years ago, in 1974.
- 2.4 MW is about 28 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 28 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 20.7 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1974
- retired
- 2012
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 15
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Electro-Motive Diesel
- operators
- Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, Metra
- top speed
- —
- power
- 2.4 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Co’Co’
- length
- 20.7 m
- weight
- 165 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q1275173, Wikipedia: EMD F40C (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.