#2915· GM-EMD F7
EMD F7
🇨🇦 Canada ·built by General Motors Diesel· from 1949· model of 1500 hp North American cab diesel locomotive
.JPG)
.jpg)
3 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Locomotive Great Northern Railway (US): Wikimedia Commons· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. ATSF 309 (Flickr 22322834666): Roger Puta· Public domain
- 3. EMD F7A locomotive: Henry Forson· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The EMD F7 is a model of 1,500-horsepower (1,100 kW) diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) and General Motors Diesel (GMD). Although originally promoted by EMD as a freight-hauling unit, the F-series, including the F7 were also capable of passenger service, and used in hauling trains such as the Santa Fe Railway's high-speed flagship trains, the Super Chief, & El Capitan, and the Ontario Northland's Northlander.
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 77 years ago, in 1949.
- 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 19 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
- 1949–1953
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 2,366
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- builders
- General Motors Diesel, Electro-Motive Diesel
- top speed
- 164 km/h
- power
- 1.1 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo’Bo’
- length
- 15.2 m
- weight
- 112 t
- Dutch name
- GM-EMD F7
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q952246, Wikipedia: EMD F7 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.