Editing EMD FT (section)

== Body recognition and appearance ==
[[Image:GM 103 at Railfair.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The nose of EMD 103 at the [[California State Railroad Museum]] in 1991]]

The FT is very similar to the later F-units in appearance, but there are some differences that render it distinguishable from later EMD freight cab units. The side panels of the FT were different, but it was fairly common for railroads to alter them to make an earlier unit appear later. As built, FT units had four porthole windows spaced closely together along their sides, and B units with [[Railway coupling|coupler]]s on both ends had a fifth window on one side for the [[hostler (rail)|hostler]] position, if equipped with hostler controls.

The roof is a more reliable indication; FTs had four exhaust stacks along the centerline (flanked by boxy structures if [[dynamic brake]]s were included). The radiator fans were recessed within the carbody, and arranged in two pairs, one near each end of the locomotive. Later units have the fans grouped together, and their shrouding extended atop the roof.

The overhangs of the body past the [[Bogie|trucks]] differ in the FT compared to later units. The B-units of FTs ordered in semi-permanently coupled A-B sets, and those with couplers on both ends, have a large overhang on one end (the coupler-equipped end on the paired units) featured on no other EMD B-units. This is not present on the B-units in semi-permanently coupled A-B-A sets, which were called ''FTSB'' units (for ''Short Booster''). At other locations, except the cab front, the FT units have less of an overhang than later units; the trucks appear to be right at the ends of the car bodies.

As with other early cab units - but unlike "hood" type locomotives - the F (and E) series used the body as a structural element, similar to a truss bridge. Most of EMD's newer passenger locomotives have a non-structural “cowl” type body built on an underframe derived from freight designs.