EMC E4
20th century train locomotive
title: "EMC E4" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["a1a-a1a-locomotives", "electro-motive-division-locomotives", "seaboard-air-line-railroad", "passenger-locomotives", "diesel–electric-locomotives-of-the-united-states", "railway-locomotives-introduced-in-1938", "locomotives-with-cabless-variants", "scrapped-locomotives", "standard-gauge-locomotives-of-the-united-states", "streamlined-diesel-locomotives"] description: "20th century train locomotive" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMC_E4" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary 20th century train locomotive ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox locomotive"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | EMC E4 |
| powertype | Diesel-electric |
| gauge | |
| image | Arrival of the Orange Blossom Special train- Plant City, Florida.jpg |
| caption | SAL #3003 leads the Orange Blossom Special into Plant City, Florida, in December 1938, inaugurating diesel service in the Southeast. |
| poweroutput | 2000 hp |
| aarwheels | A1A-A1A |
| buildmodel | E4 |
| builder | Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) |
| operator | Seaboard Air Line |
| builddate | 1938 – 1940 |
| totalproduction | 14 A units, 5 B units |
| primemover | EMC 12-567, 2 off |
| enginetype | V12 Two stroke diesel × 2 |
| cylindercount | 12 × 2 |
| disposition | All scrapped |
| :: |
| name=EMC E4 | powertype=Diesel-electric | gauge= | image=Arrival of the Orange Blossom Special train- Plant City, Florida.jpg | caption=SAL #3003 leads the Orange Blossom Special into Plant City, Florida, in December 1938, inaugurating diesel service in the Southeast. | poweroutput=2000 hp | aarwheels=A1A-A1A | buildmodel=E4 | builder=Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) | operator=Seaboard Air Line | builddate=1938 – 1940 | totalproduction=14 A units, 5 B units | primemover=EMC 12-567, 2 off | enginetype=V12 Two stroke diesel × 2 | cylindercount= 12 × 2 | disposition=All scrapped The EMC E4 was a 2000 hp, A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by the Electro-Motive Corporation of La Grange, Illinois. All were built for the Seaboard Air Line Railway. The E4 was the fifth model in a long line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units.
The 2000 hp was achieved with two EMC model 567 V12 engines developing 1,000 hp, each engine driving its own electrical generator to power the traction motors.
The front noses of the EA, E1A, E3A, E4A, E5A, and E6A cab units had a pronounced slant when viewed from the side. Therefore, these six models have been nicknamed "slant nose" units. Later E-unit models received the same blunted "bulldog nose" as the F-units.
Ironically, the E4 was produced before the E3. Both models were identical, save for the E4 having a pneumatically-operated nose door passageway in order to facilitate crew movement between units in a locomotive consist.
All the E4s were retired and scrapped by 1964.
Original owners
::data[format=table] | Railroad | Quantity A units | Quantity B units | Road numbers | Notes | |---|---|---|---|---| | Electro-Motive Corporation (demonstrator) | 1 | — | 1939 | to SAL 3013 | | Electro-Motive Corporation (demonstrator) | — | 1 | 1939B | renumbered EMC 1940B, to SAL 3104 | | Seaboard Air Line Railway | 13 | — | 3000–3012 | | | Seaboard Air Line Railway | — | 4 | 3100–3103 | | ::
References
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::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::