Exit, Stage Left!!

The locomotive on the front of this post card is a Fairbanks-Morse “Train Master”. It was built for the Reading Railroad Company in 1953.

Here it is switching at the railroad’s Rutherford Yard near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on May 2, 1964. The H-24-66, or “Train Master”, is a diesel-electric railroad locomotive produced by Fairbanks-Morse and its licensee, Canadian Locomotive Company. These six-axle hood unit road switchers were used in the United States and Canada during the 1950s. Advertised by Fairbanks-Morse as "the most useful locomotive ever built", the 2,400-horsepower “Train Master” was the most powerful single-engine diesel locomotive at its introduction in 1953. No competitor offered a locomotive with an equal horsepower rating until the ALCO RSD-7 entered production in January 1954. EMD followed suit in July 1958 with the SD24, and GE introduced their U25C in September 1963. While some railroads saw advantages in the “Train Master's” greater power, others thought the unit had too much horsepower. Other drawbacks were the difficulties inherent in maintaining the opposed-piston engine, inadequacies in the electrical system, and a higher-than-normal consumption of cooling water. All these contributed to poor market acceptance of the “Train Masters”—and ultimately the departure of Fairbanks-Morse from the locomotive business. Thus, the title of this blog post is "Exit, Stage Left!!"

This post card is another of the post cards in my collection from Audio Visual Designs. It looks like the post card was commissioned by the Frisco line for distribution by them. The photo is by Carl H. Sturner