After its long dash across the high plains of eastern Colorado with westbound train 81, Rock Island F2A 43 is leaning on the brakes at Sable just east of Denver. In a few miles the train will come to a stop, switch from UP’s Kansas line to its own belt line taking it around the city’s northern edge and into Rio Grande’s North yards, the Rock’s home base in the Mile High City. Even confirmed diesel fans have trouble identifying EMD’s F2. Only 104 of these “interim” models rolled out of La Grange in five months of 1946, sandwiched between production of the pioneering FT’ and the best-selling F3. Rock Island bought a dozen, all A-units, and for some reason assigned them two-digit road numbers, the only such on the railroad.
Photos of North America's favorite First Generation locomotives. EMD, ALCO, Baldwin; essentially anything that represents the OG wide cab diesel locomotive
