EMD E6

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EMD E6
Rock Island E6A #630, operated by Midland Railway, at Baldwin City, Kansas on November 28, 2004
Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) Model E6 Build date November 1939 – September 1942 Total produced 91 A units, 26 B units
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR A1A-A1A Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Trucks EMD Blomberg A-1-A passenger Wheel diameter 36 in (914 mm) Minimum curve 23° (250.79 ft or 76.44 m radius) Wheelbase 57 ft 1 in (17.40 m) Length 70 ft 4 in (21.44 m) over coupler pulling faces Width 10 ft 7 in (3.23 m) Height 14 ft 10 in (4.52 m) Loco weight A unit: 311,300 lb (141,203 kg) B unit: 290,000 lb (131,542 kg) Prime mover (2) EMD 12-567 RPM range 800 Engine type V12 Two-stroke diesel Aspiration Roots-type supercharger Displacement 6,804 cu in (111.50 L) each Generator (2) EMD D-4 Traction motors (4) EMD D-7 Cylinders (2) 12
Performance figures Maximum speed 116 mph (187 km/h) Power output 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) total Tractive effort Starting: 56,500 lbf (251,325 N) @25% Continuous: 31,000 lbf (137,895 N) @11 mph (18 km/h)
Career Disposition Three preserved, remainder scrapped

The EMD E6 was a 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW), A1A-A1A, streamlined passenger train locomotive manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation, and its corporate successor, General Motors Electro-Motive Division, of La Grange, Illinois. The cab version, E6A, was manufactured from November 1939 to September 1942; 91 were produced. The booster version, E6B, was manufactured from April 1940 to February 1942; 26 were produced. The 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW) was achieved by putting two 1,000-horsepower (750 kW), 12-cylinder, model 567 engines in the engine compartment. Each engine drove its own electrical generator to power the traction motors. The E6 was the seventh model in a long line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units.

Compared with passenger locomotives made later by EMD, the noses of the E3, E4, E5, and E6 cab units had pronounced slants when viewed from the side. Therefore, these four models have been nicknamed "slant nose" units. Later E models had the "bulldog nose" of the F series.

One interesting E6 variant custom-produced for the Missouri Pacific was the model EMC AA. This was a motorcar-style unit which had only one prime mover and 1,000 horsepower (750 kW), and substituted a baggage compartment where the other diesel V-12 would have been. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific owned an equally interesting pair of similar power cars known as the EMC AB6, which were mechanically identical but had boxcabs in blunt noses. These acted as boosters behind conventional E6A models on the Rocky Mountain Rocket train between Chicago and Limon, Colorado, from where the E6A would take the Denver cars north and the AB6 would take the Colorado Springs section of the train south.

Three E6 locomotives survive today:

Atlantic Coast Line E3A 501 was wrecked before delivery, returned to EMC and rebuilt as an E6A. It has been preserved and now resides at the North Carolina Transportation Museum/Spencer Shops. ACL 501 has been at or near operational status for much of its life. After retirement from regular service, the unit was restored to purple & silver colors and run on Midwest fan trips by owner Glenn Monhart. After Mr. Monhart's death, the unit found a home in Spencer, North Carolina, at the North Carolina Transportation Museum.

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad E6A #630, was operated by the Midland Railway, in Baldwin City, Kansas. RI 630 has since been sold and will become part of a future museum in Manly, Iowa, along with Rock Island E8A 652. Both units have been cosmetically restored but currently are under a mechanical restoration at Mid-America Car in Kansas City, MO as of March 2017.

Louisville and Nashville E6A #770, built as L&N 450B, is located at the Kentucky Railway Museum, in New Haven, Kentucky. This unit is for display only, as it came to the museum without most of its internal parts.

• List of GM-EMD locomotives

Media related to EMD E6 locomotives at Wikimedia Commons

• Kentucky Railway Museum motive power