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Fairbanks Morse

Designs of the Decade

1950's

The Fairbanks Morse "TRAIN MASTER". The most useful locomotive ever built.
  • The Train Master was developed to perform every conceivable railroad operating duty from mountain freight, fast freight, local and yard switching, passenger, mail and suburban train service.
  • Of 1194 locomotives built at Fairbanks Morse, approximately 10% of them were Train Masters.


The prime mover of the Trainmaster was a 12 Cylinder 2-Cycle Fairbanks Morse O.P. engine rated at 2,400 H.P. at 850 rpm. This was coupled to a generator that supplied current to the six traction motors. The main transmission was offered in three gear ratios that gave 65-70-80 mph top speed. The traction motors doubled as a dynamic braking system. Each motor could dissapate 3,000 H.P. at the rail.

Who can forget scenes like these?
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