Since 1932, Fairbanks-Morse had specialized in the manufacture of
opposed piston diesel engines for
United States Naval vessels. Not long after, the company produced a engine that saw limited use in
railcar applications on the
B&O,
Milwaukee Road, and a few other lines. Additionally, two of the 5 × 6s were placed in an experimental center cab
switcher locomotive under development by the
Reading Railroad (road #87, built in 1939 by the
St. Louis Car Company, or SLCC, and scrapped in 1953). A 5 x 6 powered the plant switcher at F-M's
Beloit, Wisconsin manufacturing facility. In 1939, the SLCC placed F-M engines in six streamlined
railcars, which became known as the
FM OP800. In 1944, F-M began production of its own
yard switcher, the
H-10-44.
Milwaukee Road #760 (originally delivered as #1802), the first Fairbanks-Morse locomotive constructed in their own plant, is preserved and on display at the
Illinois Railway Museum. F-M had yet to produce a railroad road locomotive, or any locomotive prior to the 1944 switcher which was built several years after its conception; all other locomotive producers, except for General Motors (and a few others who manufactured small industrial locomotives), were forced by the government to continue to build reciprocating steam locomotives during much of the war. All national locomotive production was subject to strict wartime restrictions regarding the number and type of railroad-related products they could manufacture (the U.S. Government in the name of the Navy commandeered all F-M O-P production well into 1944). Following
World War II, North American railways began phasing out their aging
steam locomotives and sought to replace them with state-of-the-art
diesel locomotives at an ever-increasing rate due to the unfavorable economics of steam propulsion. Fairbanks-Morse, along with its competing firms, sought to capitalize on this new market opportunity. In December 1945 F-M produced its first streamlined, cab/carbody dual service diesel locomotive as direct competition to such models as the
ALCO FA and
PA and
EMD FT and
E-unit. Assembly of the unit, which was mounted on an
A1A-A1A wheelset, was subcontracted out to
General Electric due to lack of space at F-M's Wisconsin plant. GE built the locomotives at its
Erie, Pennsylvania facility, thereby giving rise to the name “
Erie-built”. F-M retained the services of renowned industrial designer
Raymond Loewy to create a visually impressive carbody for the Erie-built. The line was only moderately successful, as a total of 82 cab and 28 booster units was sold through 1949, when production was ended. The Erie-Built program faced several problems, including a nine-month strike in Beloit near the start of production, the cost of outsourcing much of the Erie-Built's design and production to GE, and several high-cost components including two types of unique
truck and secondary electrical and cooling systems. F-M wanted to produce a carbody successor to the Erie-Built which could be manufactured in-house, and this required a new ground-up design and expansion of the locomotive shop at Beloit. Because of the design parameters laid down for the new locomotives, only the O-P engine, the traction motors, and a few accessories could be carried over from F-M's hood locomotives. The resulting Consolidation Line (known in-house as the C-Line) debuted in January 1950. C-liners took many of their design cues from the Erie-builts, using a carbody that was long. This was shorter than the Erie-Built, yet had room for a 12-cylinder OP engine (as opposed to the Erie-built's 10-cylinder engine) and a 4,500-lb-per-hour
steam generator. The C-Line was offered with 8-cylinder , 10-cylinder , and 12-cylinder versions of F-M's
38D8-1/8 opposed-piston diesel prime movers. New two-axle trucks with a distinctive curved
equalizing bar were developed, which became standard in other F-M locomotives. ==C-line models==