[1] Engineering and assembly work was subcontracted out to General Electric, which produced the locomotives at its Erie, Pennsylvania, facility, thereby giving rise to the name "Erie-built."

The Erie-Built used the 2,000 hp (1,500 kW), ten-cylinder version of F-M's Model 38D 8-1/8 opposed piston diesel engine, which had seen success as a submarine powerplant in World War II, as its prime mover.

[1] Kansas City Southern Railway ordered a four-unit, 8,000 hp (6,000 kW), A-B-B-A set to run long trains at faster speed.

This resulted in excessive lower-piston temperatures, and under heavy load this led to piston failure, which could then cause cylinder liner damage and a possible crankcase explosion.

It was determined that even if production was moved to Beloit, the high cost of items like the GE 746 traction motor (which was more expensive than the GE 752 used by the Alco PA), the unique cast and fabricate trucks, a secondary electrical power system for radiator fans and traction motor blowers, and a secondary cooling system for the lube oil (a Navy requirement), made the Erie-Builts too expensive to build.

Afterward, F-M continued to market dual service streamlined units under its Consolidated line of locomotives, more commonly referred to as "C-liners".

After their retirement, four former Pennsylvania Railroad Erie-built B unit hulks were sent to the Canadian Pacific Railway where they were incorporated into a quasi-portable CWR rail welding plant located at Smiths Falls, Ontario.

Around 1990, the CWR plant with the Erie-Built hulks were moved from Smiths Falls to a CP yard in the Transcona neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba in preparation for scrapping.