The Diesel Spotter's Guide II lists the RRs receiving E9B units but does not list roads using the E8 series. I looked at the book at a friend's house, and iirc there were 39 of one series and 44 of the other series but I don't remember which was which.

I'd like to know if E8Bs were used by any road that did NOT have E9Bs & if so, which ones? They appear to look identical externally & if different roads had E8Bs the choice of paint schemes to model would be slightly greater.

Thanx in advance,

woody
The spoters guide ed II states 39 E8b's were built.
It looks to me that the UP had the most 19
followed by Burlington 13 and the RF&P 5
The chicago and Northwestern is listed on the internet having 1 unit
I think the Sante Fe may have had at least one E8b unit
But I think the railroads listed above purchased E8b units from EMD not positive on the Sante Fe.

Hi there,

The Alaska Railroad has 2. They are no longer locos. They got them from Amtrak.

1 is stored and is equiped with boilers for steam heat.

1 has 2 HEP units for the passenger cars. The C-C trucks have been removed and had B-B trucks installed.

E8 B:

AT&SF - 5
B&O - 6
IC - 2
RF&P - 5
UP - 28
Total - 46 Which is 7 more than what the EMD site reported that were produced.

E9 B:

IC - 4
MILW - 6
UP - 34
Total - 44

From various web sites.

PARTIAL LIST of EMD E-8 deliveries

The Union Pacific acquired 5 E-8b's in 1950 aand 23 more in 1953 for a total of 28.

Believe the chicago and northwestern E-8b's were aquired from UP

Mel
Very nice research work

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pennsyk4,

UP's "ideal" passenger diesel on its City trains in the era when it was buying passenger diesels was an EMD A-B-B -- and all the early engines lettered for the City of San Francisco and City of Los Angeles were configured that way. Even after the units were renumbered in 1948 and lettered for the railroad instead of the train, the A-B-B was their configuration of choice. That's one reason they owned so many boosters.

Some days the available power dictated that the train would run with an A-B-A, but that was second choice, and normally the consist had two boosters. After the trains started to be combined over part of the route, nose m-u was added to the cab units, 4 or more units were used, and the UP trademark A-B-B E-units ceased to be seen regularly.

Tom, those early City units were not E8' but were E2's, E6's, and E7's. The Union Pacific did not use the E designation for the end A unit. It was just another A unit. Don't take this as nitpicking as I just wanted to clarify you information. Ed

Thanx to all the responders above. I appreciare your interest and time in answering my post.

As many modelers know, the model companies tend to paint/letter certain items for RRs that never had the prototypes! I have an E8B painted for a road that never owned those units, and am considering what might be done with it.

My choices would seem to be repainting for one of the RRs mentioned above, or possibly making it an Amtrak heater car (photo of one is in DIESEL SPOTTER'S GUIDE II). My understanding is they came from CB&Q via BN per info in the BN MOTIVE POWER ANNUALS of the late 1970s, but Mel's list doesn't include the "Q" so I'm a little confused on that...I do have those annuals so I'll have to dig them out to verify they were E8s and not older units.

One other thought (which would be a major project) would be to convert it to a C&NW "Crandall Cab" loco. If I remember what I read correctly, The CNW bought 11 units secondhand & installed the full-width cabs for Chicago commuter services. I remember seeing those occasionally during visits to that area & thought they looked neat.

Woody,

Just a thought here, from the outside is there a VISUAL difference between an E8B and an E9B? The E8B was 2250HP and the E9B was 2400HP but I'm not aware of any external differences. Of course the Union Pacific E8/E9 units all had the winterization hatch plus the "snow shields" (see photos of the UP heritage E units).

quote:

Originally posted by brasman:
Tom, those early City units were not E8' but were E2's, E6's, and E7's. The Union Pacific did not use the E designation for the end A unit. It was just another A unit. Don't take this as nitpicking as I just wanted to clarify you information. Ed

True, Ed. No offense taken. I apparently did not clearly communicate my point, namely, that this was a continuing evolution of Union Pacific using whatever its latest EMD passenger units might be at the time on its two top trains, in A-B-B formation for appearance (and with some additional cost benefit, tempered by the risk of being unable to press the boosters into service as controlling units if something bad happened to the cab unit). Once there were enough UPRR E8 units, the City of San Francisco and City of Los Angeles discarded the earlier E-units and normally ran throughout the early 1950's with dynamic-brake-equipped A-B-B E8 units, continuing the traditional appearance of one cab unit followed by an unbroken string of coupled railroad equipment that could be accessed through enclosed vestibules by those needing to do so. That accounted for the significant number of E8B's on Union Pacific.

However, all the UP units were free-running after 1948, and some days the engine was A-B-A E8's or non-dynamic-brake-equipped E3, -6, or -7 units when the trains were running in sections. The A-B-B E8's were just first choice -- not the only choice.

I understand the sand filler hatches were different between the E8's snd E9's but I am not aware of any other external changes but someone will find something I am sure. Ed

Impressive reasearch guys. Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by jwmathews:
Thanx to all the responders above. I appreciare your interest and time in answering my post.

As many modelers know, the model companies tend to paint/letter certain items for RRs that never had the prototypes! I have an E8B painted for a road that never owned those units, and am considering what might be done with it.

...

One other thought (which would be a major project) would be to convert it to a C&NW "Crandall Cab" loco. If I remember what I read correctly, The CNW bought 11 units secondhand & installed the full-width cabs for Chicago commuter services. I remember seeing those occasionally during visits to that area & thought they looked neat.

That has been my thought about those CNW E8 A-B-A sets done by MTH and K-line. From the photos I've seen, I don't recall CNW being big on B units in general. The low hood looks like it could be formed from the Kaslo "Canadian Cab" kit for GP38's or the cab from an SD60M.