The Diesel That Did It: General Motors' FT Locomotive (Railroads Past and Present)

I found “The Diesel That Did It” entertaining and interesting. The writing flows effortlessly and there are sidebars that bring additional life and detail to the story. Beyond that, the book is is amply illustrated with hundreds of exceptionally high quality, period photos. The story centers on the AT&SF “Santa Fe” railroad and its evaluation and eventual adoption of new technology diesel freight locomotives in the late 1930’s. Instead of only focusing on the mechanical and technical, Abbey provides readers with a sweeping view of the economic, technological, labor, and physical challenges of running a railroad. Incorporating history for context, the book knits together a series of stories into a narrative that reads like an adventure. It’s both educational and entertaining. If you really enjoy the story, you can go visit the main character In person. The lead unit of EMD 103 is preserved at the National Museum of Transportation, St Louis.

Wally worked on this for so many years. It is a shame that he did not get to see it finished. There was so much information in the history of the FT diesel locomotives on the Santa Fe. Wally had access to and first hand experience, the best building blocks for telling the story.

This book was a joy to read. In it, author Wallace W Abbey describes the Santa Fe Railway before dieselisation in the 1930’s. He describes the events that led to the creation of the Eletro-Motive Division of General Motors and how the FT diesel was designed and built. Abbey also explains his experience riding aboard an FT locomotive on the Santa Fe, using photographs of his own and several other persons.

This is not a dry roster book with lots of pictures and you can jump around the chapters. Instead, if you read the text beginning with chapter 1 (imagine that!), you get an amazing in-depth look at how and why the Santa Fe bought its FT locomotives, and the dramatic impact these locomotives had on the railroad. Well researched with lots of great photos.

Excellent photos and text showing the steam to Diesel transition and why. Highly recommend this book.

There is much of the FT story I did not know even though I have been reading about them for decades. This is not a study of the technical aspects which has been covered before but more of a study of the places and people that made it work. This was highly educational.

As a person that grew up in a Santa Fe family, this book was informative, interesting, and a great read. Recommend it for fans of ATSF and railroad fans in general.

The book was easy to read. Very informative