Locomotive Spotlight #6 / New York Central F-M C-Liners

Greetings All,

Locomotive Spotlight #6 / 2022

 New York Central Fairbanks Morse C-Liners

Today we'll take a look at the New York Central Fairbanks Morse Consolidation Line locomotives and my own A-B-A set from Proto 1000.

 Prototype Information

Diesel engine manufacturer Fairbanks-Morse entered the diesel electric locomotive market at the end of World War II. The F-M engines used an opposed piston design that employed two pistons facing each other in each cylinder. The advantage was that it produced significantly more horsepower than an EMD, Alco or Baldwin engine of the same cylinder count. 

In the late 1940s F-M introduced 2,000 and 2,400 horsepower locomotives more than a decade before other builders achieved the same power in single engine locomotives. 

In December 1945 Fairbanks-Morse produced its first streamlined cab/car body dual service diesel electric locomotive to compete with the Alco PA and EMD E units. These units were erected at General Electric's Erie PA plant which gave them the nickname Eries or Erie Builts. A total of 82 can units and 28 booster units were sold when production ended.

NYC Erie Builts 

The NYC purchased 14 Erie Builts that were delivered between 1947 and 1949. Of these six were geared for 97 miles per hour and intended for passenger service with the other eight geared for 79 mph and intended for fast freight service.

The 64' long NYC Erie Built A units (#5000-5005) were built for freight operations with a 2,000 HP 10 cylinder, opposed piston diesel engine that rode on A-1-A trucks. #5002 would be repowered with an EMD 567 engine in 1957

Erie Built 5003 idles away at Terminal Yard. The 5003 would also be repowered with an EMD 567 engine in 1957.

 

F-M cab less booster NYC #5101 contributes another 2000 HP to the Erie Built A-B-A consist. 

A single Erie Built was often seen powering the New York Central Pacemaker Freight Trains.

 C-Liners

A total of ninety nine C-Liners were built by F-M at their Beloit, Wisconsin plant between 1950 and 1952. 

Photo courtesy of OldOnliner, thru Creative Commons 

Another sixty six were built in Canada under license. 

 

The New York Central RR's thirty three Fairbanks Morse C-Liners gave the Central more C-Liners than any other railroad. The NYC received the first C-Liner built, #5006 and the last USA built unit #4507. Thru 1952 the Central was one of F-Ms best customers with the purchase of one hundred nineteen FM units.

 

The FM Consolidation Line was the company's attempt to market and erect locomotives with different options like high HP on the same frame. The C-Liners followed the F-M Erie Builts so named for being built in the GE Erie PA factory between 1945 and 1949. The C-Liners took many design cues from the Erie Builts and continued using the same opposed piston engines.

 

The C-Liners came with an eight cylinder 1,600 HP(CFA16-4A) and ten cylinder 2,000 HP(CFA20-4) version for both A and B units. A twelve cylinder 2,400(CPA24-5) passenger unit with a B, A-1-A axle arrangement for A units only.

The New York Central purchased all three of the above models. Eight CFA16-4A units(6600-6607) and four CFB16-4 units(6900-6903) were purchased in 1952 and retired in 1966.

Eight CPA24-5 passenger units (4500-4507). These units would also be repowered with EMD 567 engines in 1955 and 1956. All were retired in 1966 and later scrapped.

Twelve CFA20-4 units(5006-5017) and three CFB20-4 units(5102-5104). All would be repowered with EMD engines in 1955 and 1956 and later scrapped.

 

C-Liner Models

The New York Central Layout regularly runs this Proto 1000 C-Liner A-B-A set. These models are quite rugged with the A units having survived a four foot drop to the floor. After finding all the parts that came off and putting the units back together the only broken piece was the coupler on the lead unit.

CFA20-4 #5008 is still running well after 20 years of service and a big fall. These models have not been afflicted with the P-1000/P-2000 cracked gear problems. Knock on wood!

  

CFA20-4 #5013 burbles away in Terminal Yard as the trio awaits their next call to duty.

CFB20-4 #5102 required a modification to allow it to better mu with the A units. See below for more on that.

The 5000 series C-Liners were assigned to West Springfield for maintenance in order to cover some of the B&A assignments with the Erie Builts and FAs. Their 500 more horsepower per unit than the FAs did improve train speed and their heavier weight increased the tractive effort and low speeds.

An A-B-A set of C-Liners rests in the Terminal Yard engine terminal along side a an A-B-B-A set of FAs and FBs. 

Reliability issues with the C-Liners and Erie Builts allowed the Alcos to usurp the C-Liners as the preferred power to conquer the Berkshires. It took an ABBA set of Alco F1s and B1s to match the power output of the 5000 series A-B-A consist but the Alcos more than proved themselves on the New York Central and Boston & Albany.

Modifications

After adding the B unit I noticed that the B unit ran faster than the A units in Direct Control mode. I removed the circuit boards, hard wired the units and ended up adding a light in the B unit so all units would draw the same amperage. After this the units ran very well together. 

C-Liners in Action

Final Thoughts

The Erie Built and C-Liner models from Proto 2000 have been on the NYCTL roster for over 20 years and continue to provide excellent service. They are rugged, easy to maintain and can pull any tonnage I can come up with.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!