Diesel Locomotive at the Ford Rouge Plant, November 1937

THF285456 / Diesel Locomotive at the Ford Rouge Plant, November 1937
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Artifact Overview

Some 100 miles of railroad track covered the grounds of Ford Motor Company's Rouge plant. The automaker maintained its own fleet of locomotives to move incoming railcars loaded with raw materials, and outgoing railcars filled with finished parts and automobiles, around the complex. Additionally, specialized tank cars ferried molten iron from the factory's blast furnaces to its foundry.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Date Made

10 November 1937

Subject Date

10 November 1937

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

64.167.833.P.69302.B

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)
Linen (Material)

Technique

Gelatin silver process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 11 in
Width: 7.875 in

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    Diesel-Electric Locomotives

    • 9 Artifacts
    The diesel-electric locomotive offered many advantages over its steam-powered counterpart. It needed less maintenance, used less fuel and could be operated with a smaller crew. It also didn't require expensive support structures like roundhouses, coaling towers and water tanks. After World War II, the "dieselization" of American railroads was rapid. Of the 21,000 new locomotives bought between 1945 and 1955, fully 95 percent were diesel-electric.
Diesel Locomotive at the Ford Rouge Plant, November 1937