Rock Island E6A #630, operated by the Midland Railway, at Baldwin City, Kansas on November 28, 2004.
The E6s were 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW), A1A-A1A, passenger diesel locomotives manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation, and its corporate successor, General Motors Electro-Motive Division, of La Grange, Illinois. 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.
These were built between November 1939 – September 1942 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois for The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad. Interestingly, it began production a year before the E5 (built only for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) and went on to being the most successful E-series design the Electro-Motive Corporation ever built. The E6 was the last in the series the builder produced before becoming an official division of General Motors.
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.
By the late 1970s, all but 3 of the E6s were retired and sold for scrap.
Variants[]
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad owned an equally interesting pair of similar power cars known as the EMC AB6, which were mechanically identical but had boxcabs in blunt noses.
Twenty-six cabless machines (known as E6B's) were built later, but alongside the E6A's for nearly two years, and 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.
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.
One interesting E6 variant custom-produced for the Missouri Pacific was the model EMC AA-6, numbered 7100. It was built with both passenger and luggage space in mind. However it was not well known as it was retired and quietly scrapped in 1962.
Survivors[]
Just three E6s were saved for preservation:
Atlantic Coast Line E6A #501, on static display at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. It has been at or near operational status for much of its life.
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad E6A #630, was operated by the Midland Railway, in Baldwin City, Kansas. It has since it's 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 in March 2017.
Louisville and Nashville E6A #770, is located at the Kentucky Railway Museum, in New Haven, Kentucky on static display. While this unit is for display only, it came to the museum without most its internal parts.
Trivia[]
- Interestingly enough, the E6s were built before the E5s, where as every other E unit was in numeral order.
Gallery[]
