#2666
EMD Model 40
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Electro-Motive Diesel· from 1940· model of 11 American 300hp B diesel-electric locomotives
what is it?
The EMD Model 40 was a two-axle diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC), and its corporate successor, General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) between August 1940 and April 1943. Nicknamed "critters", eleven examples of this locomotive were built. Powered by twin General Motors Detroit Diesel 6-71 diesel engines, which produce a combined 300 horsepower (224 kW), its drivetrain is unusual because the two diesel engines are used to drive the electric DC generator from both sides, one with clockwise rotation and the other with counter-clockwise rotation.
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 86 years ago, in 1940.
- Weighs about as much as 6 African elephants (~6 t each).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1940–1943
- number built
- 11
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Electro-Motive Diesel
- designer
- Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC)
- operators
- United States Navy, Transportation Corps, Electro-Motive Diesel, General Motors Diesel Division
- top speed
- 48 km/h
- power
- 224 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4w
- length
- 7.9 m
- weight
- 37.2 t
- nicknames
- Critters
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4037796, Wikipedia: EMD Model 40 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.