MBTA 1101 with GO coaches at South Station, March 1979

The EMD FP10 was a series of rebuilt F-unit locomotives originally operated by the

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 stati ...

system. The FP10 units were rebuilt in the late 1970s by the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad at its

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Miss ...

shops for the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network ...

using former

Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio was a Class I railroad in the central United States whose primary routes extended from Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Chicago, Illinois. From its two ...

F3 and F7 units. These F3 and F7 locomotives were used by the GM&O and ICG (for a short period) in Chicago-area commuter service and later in freight service until their retirement. Despite their designation, the FP10s locomotives were not the linear successors of the FP9. The rebuilding by ICG saw all of the units gain full-length stainless steel air intake grilles, which in many cases replaced the 'chicken wire' appearance which many had during their tenure with the GM&O and ICG. They were also equipped with a 480 V HEP generator at the rear of the locomotive, as well as

dynamic brake Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric or diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed " rheostatic" if the generated electrical power is dissipated as heat in brake grid ...

s, and had their classification lights replaced with large red marker lights which enabled the locomotive to "carry the markers" when operating in push mode. Unlike the FP7 and FP9, the FP10 units were never extended beyond their original length, thus making the "P" in their designation misleading. The FP10 designation, like that of the

GP10 The EMD GP10 is a diesel-electric locomotive that is the result of rebuilding a GP7, GP9 or GP18. The Illinois Central Railroad had three separate rebuild programs to upgrade their old EMD GPs and GPs that they had purchased from equipment de ...

(also an ICG product) was conceived by ICG and was never sanctioned by EMD, though railroads and rail enthusiasts alike agree on the moniker. The FP10 locomotives were painted in the MBTA's purple, silver, and yellow scheme, wearing two variations (one which had two substantial yellow swaths on the nose, and the second which used the yellow only as striping on the nose, as well as the rest of the carbody) of the transit agency's dress. At least one was painted in a scheme that was a "negative" of the conventional scheme, where purple was the primary color and silver taking a secondary role. During the early 1990s, the FP10s were retired by the MBTA, with four being sold to the Metro-North Commuter Railroad (MNCR 410-413), some leased (Cape Cod Central—and eventually resold after that operation ceased) and others being scrapped. In late 1999/early 2000, the last remaining MBTA-owned FP10 units were sold and have operated in Maryland, New Orleans, Georgia, and Idaho on various tourist trains.

References

{{EMD diesels B-B locomotives Electro-Motive Division locomotives Illinois Central locomotives MBTA Commuter Rail Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Rebuilt locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States

See also

References