F Units: The Diesels That Did It (Golden Years of Railroading) [Paperback]

Jeff Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1999 | Series: Golden Years of Railroading

A photographic tribute to the breakthrough F unit. Examine the diesel locomotive that essentially ran steam engines out of operation! Between the end of World War II and the 1960s, F units were the primary freight and passenger haulers for railroads all across the country. Rarely seen vintage photos from the David P. Morgan Memorial Library show F units hard at work during this period.

*Features action shots of original FTs, F3s, F7s, F9s, and more
*Includes production histories and some prototype illustrations
*Extends the Golden Years Series by focusing on a single locomotive

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Kalmbach Publishing Company (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890243743
• ISBN-13: 978-0890243749
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,524,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like F-units, you'll LOVE this book!, April 30, 2000

By 

Brian (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: F Units: The Diesels That Did It (Golden Years of Railroading) (Paperback)

F Units: The Diesels that did it is a book that both young and old railfans will find enjoyable. The text is comprehensible, so you need not be a die-hard train buff to understand the terminology. There are cutaway and sectional illustrations that allow the reader to distinguish between the different types of F Unit diesel locomotives, and a very complete and thorough history is provided for each locomotive. This book is chock full of pictures. Although they are all in black-and-white, they are still stunning, and they do justice to the prototype. Whether you are a model railroader or just a train buff, you'll appreciate this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Railroad Library ESSENTIAL......, June 10, 2008

By 

Horace Shukerve (Too Close to I-405) - See all my reviews

This review is from: F Units: The Diesels That Did It (Golden Years of Railroading) (Paperback)

Author Jeff Wilson undertook and delivered in this effort. His writings are truly the best contemorary treatise on THE diesel locomotive series that literally re-wrote railroading history. In "F Units - The Diesel That Did It", you will be educated on each model, and its' respective features, and also learn about "Phases" - a term used to describe subtle yet poignant differences within a given specific model. Collectively, the "F" series of locomotives, designed and built by (the) Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, started in AND finished off Steam Powered Locomotion on all but two "Class I" Railroads on the North American Continent. I sincerely hope that this book will be reprinted some day, so as to assist future students eager to learn about this historic agggregate of transportation machinery.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice book for fans of first-generation EMD diesels, August 14, 2011

By 

Dean Vinson (Dayton, Ohio) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: F Units: The Diesels That Did It (Golden Years of Railroading) (Paperback)

A brief history of the Electro-Motive Division F-series locomotives, which proved so versatile, economical, and reliable that they "did it"--made the steam locomotive obsolete for most railroading applications--in a remarkably short period of time. There's not a lot of text here, but there are lots of great 1940s and 1950s black and white photos, mostly of F units in action but also including several terrific scenes from the EMD plants where the locomotives were built. Posed publicity photos from the various railroads are interspersed with evocative portraits from distinguished railroad photographers including J. Parker Lamb, Jim Shaughnessy, Richard Steinheimer, and others. Scale drawings and model-by-model descriptions illustrate the differences between and within each model, helpful for the railfan who needs to know, for example, how to distinguish an FP7 from an F7, or an early F3 from a late F3.