Today I’m going to tell you a little more about trains, but not the Br 52 this time. Today it’s about the EMD F series. The EMD F is an American diesel-electric locomotive from General Motors Electro-Motive Division. It was designed as a heavy freight locomotive, but it was also used for passenger trains. A total of 1,807 units were built between 1945 and 1949: 1,111 of type A and 696 of the cabless units of type B.
Germany had already toyed with the idea of possessing its own aircraft carrier during the First World War; this was to be called Ausonia, but it was never seriously pursued. However, shortly after the termination of the Treaty of Versailles, a new carrier project was initiated, based on the experience of other major powers such as Japan, the USA, and Great Britain, acquired through exchanges or espionage. Ultimately, not a single aircraft carrier was fully commissioned or built. The Graf Zeppelin was largely completed, but its construction was halted, while its sister ship, Aircraft Carrier B, was abandoned during construction. During the design of the accompanying aircraft, some were built specifically for the project, such as the Arado 197. However, this met with little approval from the Luftwaffe, which is why modifications of existing aircraft like the Bf 109 T, the Ju 87 C or T, or the Fi 167 found more favor.
The WAM-4 is an Indian locomotive. It was developed and built by the Indian manufacturer Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (for short: CLW) and the Research Design and Standards Organization (for short: RDSO) between 1970 and 1983, with 500 units produced. Its name is composed of W for wide gauge, A for alternating current, and M for mixed, indicating that it can be used for both freight and passenger trains, just like the Br 52 and the EMD. Finally, the 4 indicates that it is the 4th generation of the WAM series, similar to the EMD. She served with the Indian Railways for almost fifty years until she was retired between 2005 and 2020; nevertheless, she was one of the most successful Indian locomotives.
We’ve already discussed the T14 (more about the T14 here in my article: T14: The Super Heavy Sherman). Now we want to take a closer look at its British counterpart, the Excelsior. Like the American T14, the Excelsior resulted from the same development project, although the Excelsior also never went into serial production; only two prototypes were built.
In the Pacific War, it quickly became apparent after the initial deployments of the Japanese Chi-Ha tanks that they lacked sufficient armor and firepower to contend with the American M4 Shermans and M3 Lee/Grant (more in my article on the M3: The M3 Lee / Grant: The Driving Cathedral) Consequently, development of successors began as early as 1940; one of these was the Type 5 Chi-Ri (五式中戦車 チリ / Medium Tank Type 5 Chi-Ri). Parallel to this, the Ho-Ri, intended to serve as a heavy tank destroyer, was designed based on the Type Chi-Ri. However, due to a shortage of raw materials, which were allocated to the Type 4 Chi-To rather than the Chi-Ri, it never entered serial production; only a single unfinished Chi-Ri prototype was built, while the Ho-Ri project was abandoned entirely, with only a scale model ever being constructed.
Today, folks, we're going to look at a big hopper, namely the M3 Lee or Grant. These weren't its only names; it was mockingly called the Cathedral by the Americans because of its silhouette, while the Germans called it “Grab für sechs Freunde” (Grave for six friends), making fun of the tank's flammability. However, it not only had many names but also many variations and versions, some of which you've never heard of, are fake, or are among the most famous in the world. It was also operated by a wide variety of users. And that’s not all: Bernard Montgomery (also called “Monty”) even used an M3 Grant as his personal tank; its nickname was also “Monty“.
