FM Erie Built B Unit

These are N scale 3D printable files for the Fairbanks-Morse Erie Built B Unit — one of the most distinctive and least-modeled passenger locomotive types in North American railroad history. Designed to fit on a Kato PB unit frame.

The Erie Built was Fairbanks-Morse's entry into the postwar passenger locomotive market, produced between 1945 and 1949 in partnership with the General Electric Company at GE's Erie, Pennsylvania plant — hence the name. Fairbanks-Morse was an unusual player in the diesel locomotive market: a Wisconsin-based manufacturer better known for pumps and engines, it entered railroading with a unique advantage in the form of its opposed-piston engine, a design in which two pistons share a single cylinder moving in opposite directions, eliminating the cylinder head entirely. This gave the FM engine exceptional power density and fuel efficiency, but also a reputation for demanding maintenance that ultimately limited the type's commercial success against the simpler, more standardized products of EMD and ALCO.

The Erie Built's streamlined carbody — styled by industrial designer Raymond Loewy — gave it one of the most elegant silhouettes of the early diesel era, with a distinctive "shark nose" profile that set it apart from the blunter faces of its competitors. The B unit variant was a cabless booster, designed to run in multiple-unit consists with A unit locomotives to provide additional power on heavy passenger trains.

This set covers six prototype railroads, each with their own story:

• ATSF — Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway: The Santa Fe was one of the most enthusiastic early adopters of streamlined passenger power, and its Erie Builts worked the famous Super Chief and El Capitan corridors across the Southwest in the late 1940s.
• KCS — Kansas City Southern Railway: The KCS operated its Erie Builts on its premier Southern Belle passenger service between Kansas City and New Orleans, one of the most stylish trains in the South.
• MILW 1940s — Milwaukee Road: The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad — the Milwaukee Road — used its Erie Builts on Midwest passenger services, wearing the railroad's classic orange and maroon passenger livery of the late 1940s.
• NYC — New York Central Railroad: The NYC's Erie Builts worked the Water Level Route's passenger services in the classic two-tone gray "lightning stripe" livery, one of the most elegant paint schemes of the streamlined era.
• PRR — Pennsylvania Railroad: The Standard Railroad of the World operated its Erie Builts in the iconic Tuscan Red passenger livery, working trains across the dense PRR network of the Northeast.
• UP — Union Pacific Railroad: Union Pacific's Erie Builts wore the railroad's striking Armour Yellow and gray passenger scheme, working the famous City series streamliners across the West.

After purchase, your digital files will be available for immediate direct download from your order confirmation. These files are for Personal Use Only — if you are interested in a commercial license, please contact us.

Please allow a few weeks for 3D printing and shipping. Decals are shipped separately — please allow some additional time for decal printing and shipping after ordering.