The OP800 was a lightweight, streamlined

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a dri ...

built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1939. Fairbanks-Morse supplied the , five-cylinder opposed piston engine

prime mover Prime mover may refer to: Philosophy *Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings Engineering * Prime mover (engine), motor, a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc) into energy ...

. The units were configured in a highly unusual 2-A1A wheel arrangement ''(later converted to 3-A1A)'' mounted atop a pair of road

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

, and equipped with a front swing coupler pilot. The aft section was divided into two separate compartments: one was used to transport baggage and the other served as a small

railway post office In Canada and the United States, a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly tr ...

, or RPO (the forward door, located just behind the radiator louvers, was equipped with a mail hook). Six units, accompanied by matching trailing car sets, were manufactured exclusively for the Southern Railway. Two were later sold to the Georgia and Florida Railroad and

Georgia Northern Railway The Boston and Albany Railroad was chartered in 1891 to build a rail line from Boston to Albany, Georgia, United States. After two years, very little progress had been made and the railroad was purchased by the Pidcock Family who had founded a pr ...

as maintenance cars. The remaining four OP800s were scrapped in 1955; selected parts were retained for maintenance use on other SR F-M motive power. At least four of these cars had individual names applied to them, including ''"Vulcan", "Cracker", "Joe Wheeler",'' and ''"Goldenrod"''. No OP800 units survive.

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* * * OP800 Diesel locomotives of Southern Railway (U.S.) North American streamliner trains 2-A1A locomotives 3-A1A locomotives Passenger locomotives Scrapped locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1939 Standard gauge locomotives of the United States {{diesel-loco-stub Streamlined diesel locomotives

See also

References

Bibliography