They weren't available when the E7s were ordered, but they could have purchased F3s with steam generators. They may not have been available when the E8s were orderd, but F7s would fit the bill. Several railroads went with F3s and F7s with steam generators for passenger service. Santa Fe put steam generators in the B units only, but without dynamic brakes there was a bit more room in the A units, so it was doable.
Some of the Frisco FP-7's arrived during the same year, 1950, as the E-8's. EMD produced the FP-7 between June 1949-Dec 1953 The rows in the attachment are ordered by delivery date.
Tom - The E8 and the FP7 (and the F7) were each introduced by EMD in 1949. The F7 went into production first, in early 1949, followed by the FP7 mid-year and the E8 shortly thereafter. I think if the Frisco wanted FP7's instead of E8's, they could have had them about the same time as the 17 E8's they did receive. I think the b/y Frisco FP7 is a very handsome locomotive. It would be interesting to do one as a red/gold/white "Racehorse" to have a look as a what-if. Bet it would look pretty good, but not quite as regal. K
I think a factor in the buying decision was what Ken somewhat intimated; the E8A was a more elegant looking machine than the FP7A units. The Frisco generally was proud of their fleet of locomotives, especially for passenger service.
Plus another factor might have been that the EMD E's had two engines per locomotive. Railroads were concerned about diesel reliability on passenger trains in the early diesel days. Trains with one engine could limp home usually if one of the two engines went bad out on the road - no passengers would be stranded just late!). EMD used the fact that their E's had two engines as a selling point against Alco, who used only one engine in their PA's. Alco was somewhat weak on engine reliability vs EMD. K
