The Diesel That Did It: General Motors' FT Locomotive

"Wallace W. Abbey had already embarked on a long career as a participant in and observer of the rail industry when in 1945 he witnessed the arrival of the first Santa Fe FT diesel in Chicago. The teenaged Abbey knew he was seeing the future. Gifted as both a writer and photographer ? with an insatiable curiosity about railroading ? Abbey spent decades gathering material about the Santa Fe's landmark FT fleet, and this marvelous book is the result."?Robert S. McGonigal, Editor, Classic Trains magazine

"Abbey's book is a must-read for serious students of dieselization and the constructive disruption it brought to North American railroads. Electro-Motive's FT was a radical new locomotive created by engineers who dreamt a future. Santa Fe was the first railway to grasp the FT's significance: a fleet of 320 units engaged in an industrial duel in the wartime American southwest. Steam was convincingly shoved ingloriously offstage into history's shadows and a permanent past."?Michael Iden, P.E., retired Union Pacific motive chief

"Yes, this is the story of a locomotive, the FT diesel. But it is also the story of a company, the glorious Santa Fe Railway, that clasped the FT to its bosom and demonstrated during World War II that here was a mighty workhorse. With that, the steam locomotive was doomed. Who but Wally Abbey could spin this tale so well? After all, he grew up with the FT and alongside the Santa Fe and knew and understood both. So sit back and be seduced by Wally's relaxing narrative about a time long ago and a revolutionary locomotive long gone (but not forgotten)."?Fred W. Frailey, author and longtime Trains magazine columnist

"For five decades wordsmith Wallace W. Abbey wrote informative and insightful articles about the American railroad industry, its trials, tribulations, and occasional triumphs.  Long fascinated by the revolution wrought by dieselization, Abbey uses the Electro-Motive Corporation's FT diesels as employed on the Santa Fe Railway to demonstrate the extraordinary impact these locomotives had on railroad management, operations, labor and regulatory agencies. Beautifully illustrated and a great read."?Keith L. Bryant, Jr., co-author (with Fred W. Frailey) History of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, revised and expanded edition

"The Diesel That Did It will appeal to anyone who is interested in the steam-to-diesel transition era and its impact on the photogenic AT&SF railway. Contemporary photographers documenting BNSF's operations will enjoy this look at how the railroad appeared in the first half of the last century."?Bill Hough, NRHS Bulletin