Extending from Buffalo, New York, across Ontario, Canada, to Detroit and on to Chicago, Kansas City, and Omaha, Wabash has its? roots in the 1837 charter of the Northern Cross Railroad in Illinois. The result of numerous mergers and reorganizations dating from before the Civil War, the Wabash Railroad was formed in 1889 under the control of Jay Gould. Wabash began to dieselize with switchers beginning in 1939. In 1949 replacement of steam power for road freight operations began with five A-B-A sets of Alco FA-1?s and eight A-B-A sets of EMD F7?s numbered 1100 to 1107, all classed D-45 (for diesel, 4,500 horsepower). No more FA?s were ordered, but the F7 became the most numerous diesel locomotive model on the Wabash with 127 units (118 A units and 9 B units). A ninth and last A-B-A set, 1108, followed in 1950. The rest of Wabash?s F7?s were built as A-A sets. Fifteen such pairs, 1140 ? 1154, were acquired in 1950. Ten sets, 1155 ? 1164, were built in Canada for use on the line across Ontario in 1951 along with twelve more sets, 1165 ? 1176, for US operations. In 1952 ten additional pairs, 1177 ? 1186, were purchased. In 1953, the railroad acquired two sets, 1187 and 1188, for US operations and one set, 1189, was built in Canada. The B-units were numbered by adding a ''B'' suffix to the set number while the second A-unit in each set had an ''A'' suffix added. The Genesis single A-unit and the A-B set models are one of the original A-B-A sets, the 1106, 1106B, and 1106A, built in August 1949 as EMD builder?s numbers 7624, 7629, and 7625 respectively. The A-A set models are the 1183 and 1183A, built in September 1952 as EMD builder?s numbers 17068 and 17069.