Chicago Burlington & Quincy F2 157C built July 1946 (c/n 3023) retired July 1964, at Naperville, Illinois, April 14, 1962, photo by Chuck Zeiler. It is pictured here leading four GP-20's on the CGI (Chicago Grand Island) expedited freight that featured pooled locomotives from the CB&Q and UP. The EMD F-series of locomotives were known to CB&Q employees as "Graybacks".

The CB&Q received 10 F2's in July 1946 as 150A-154A and 155C-159C. The first five FT A/B/B/A sets 100-104 were broken up into A/B sets and renumbered and mated with a single F2, producing 10 semi-permanently coupled FTA/B-F2 4050 horsepower locomotives (or, in CB&Q parlance, a 4050 hp motor). At this time a second headlight was added to the nose door of the FT's which had been delivered with a single headlight. The F2's were the final CB&Q F style locomotive delivered with the "freight-style" pilot. The F2 was a transitional design from the FT to the F3, retaining some of the FT's internal features (the 1350 hp 16-cylinder 567A diesel with belt-driven auxiliaries was replaced with a 1500 hp model 567B, still driving the FT's D8 main generator, limiting it to 1350 hp), but introduced the new carbody featuring three equally-spaced portholes on the side and four roof mounted radiator cooling fans driven by electric motors (replacing the belt drive in the FT's). The FT's belt-driven traction motor blower was also electrically powered. This carbody carried over to the first run (or Phase) of the F3 production. Only 74 F2A's and 30 F2B's were built.