# FM H-24-66

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.
They were the successor to the unsuccessful Consolidated line of cab units produced by F-M and CLC in the 1950s. Each locomotive produced 2,400 horsepower (1.8 MW). Like other F-M locomotives, the Train Master used an opposed-piston prime mover. It rode on a pair of drop-equalized three-axle "Trimount" trucks, giving it a C-C wheel arrangement.

## Overview

Advertised by Fairbanks-Morse as "the most useful locomotive ever built", the 2,400-horsepower (1.8 MW) H-24-66 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 F-M and CLC from the locomotive business.

## Variations

Three carbody variants were produced. Phase 1a units had air-intake louvers in a continuous line along the top of the long hood and a wide separating strip between the radiator fans. Phase 1b had a "dip" in the long hood handrails to better follow the side walkways. Phase 2 units had fewer air-intake louvers, with large gaps separating them, and the radiators themselves were divided by a tiny metal strip.

### Units manufactured by Fairbanks-Morse (1953–1957)

| Railroad | Quantity | Road numbers | Notes |
| Fairbanks-Morse (demonstrator units) | 4 | TM-1 – TM-4 | TM-1 & TM-2 to Wabash Railroad 550–551; TM-3 & TM-4 to Southern Pacific 4800–4801/3020–3021 |
| Canadian National Railway | 1 | 3000 | Later renumbered 2900. |
| Canadian Pacific Railway | 1 | 8900 | Only CPR Train Master built by FM (not CLC). Delivered with a single steam generator. Remaining (twenty) CPR Train Masters (8901-8920) built by CLC (see below). |
| Central Railroad of New Jersey | 13 | 2401–2413 | |
| Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad | 12 | 850–861 | to Erie Lackawanna Railroad 1850–1861 |
| Pennsylvania Railroad | 9 | 8699–8707 | to Penn Central 6700–6708 |
| Reading Company | 17 | 800–808, 860–867 | |
| Southern Pacific | 14 | 4802–4815, 4800-4815 | Renumbered 3020–3035 in 1965 |
| Southern Railway (CNO&TP) | 5 | 6300–6304 | |
| Virginian Railway | 25 | 50–74 | to Norfolk and Western Railway 150–174 |
| Wabash Railroad | 6 | 552–554, 552A–554A | Renumbered 552–557 |
| Total | 107 | | |

### Units manufactured by the Canadian Locomotive Company (1956)

| Railroad | Quantity | Road numbers | Notes |
| Canadian Pacific Railway | 20 | 8901–8920 | CP 8905 is the only H-24-66 preserved. It can be seen at the Canadian Railway Museum in Saint-Constant, Quebec, Canada. 8901-8904 originally delivered with unique wide short hoods housing dual steam generators, converted to normal hood width when SG's removed. |

## Preservation

Only one Train Master locomotive has survived: former Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) H-24-66 #8905, owned by the Canadian Railroad Historical Association, which operates the Canadian Railway Museum in Saint-Constant, Quebec.
Some former Virginian Railway Train Masters were rebuilt into slugs by the Norfolk and Western Railway; they survived well into Norfolk Southern service. One is preserved at the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.