E7 Diesel

Built by EMD, the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, the E7A was an early passenger diesel locomotive. The TYCO model arrives in the 1978 catalog. Model Railroader magazine had a small black-and-white photo of the Union Pacific City of San Francisco E7 in its April 1978 edition. The picture accompanies a news column detailing new items displayed in Houston for the 41st Annual Hobby Industry of America Trade Show. The E7 displayed at the show appears, from what one can tell from the photo, to be identical to regular production examples produced by TYCO.

The model may be all original tool-and-die work by TYCO, however it does have a resemblence to the old Hobbytown metal shell and the Model Power plastic E7. The E7 model has its last appearance is in the 1986 catalog.

This loco is unique among TYCO units as it was never offered in a train set. Also of interest is the oddity of releasing a passenger loco at a time when the passenger car offerings were dwindling in the TYCO line. When the E7 arrives only Amtrak paint is available for passenger cars, though TYCO never produced an Amtrak E7. Roadnames are also among the most limited variety of any TYCO offering with only four total. The unit featured the PowerTorque drive and was mounted on the non-prototypical trucks first given to the Super630.