 With Eugene Kettering moving to EMC that year, EMC moved into a leading role in further development of GM's locomotive engines.GM-Winton-EMC's long development efforts put the company in an advantageous position relative to other developers of diesel-electric locomotion.Their nearest competitor was the American Locomotive Company (ALCO), who had produced diesel-electric switch engines since the mid-1920s, provided motive power for the "Rebel" streamliner trainsets in 1935, and started production of development design locomotives to compete with the E-units in 1939.