Santa Fe Freight Locos

Triplex

Active Member
Now, when the same engines were used to haul passenger consists, some ten years earlier, what would be standard scheme of engines hauling freight in the same time frame?
Could you link also a picture of one of those as well if that is not asking too much?

In the 50s, freight hood units received the same scheme as switchers, "zebra stripes": RailPictures.Net Photo » Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (ATSF) EMD GP7 Cab units received blue and yellow: RailPictures.Net Photo » Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (ATSF) EMD FT In the 60s, all freight power started receiving blue and yellow: RailPictures.Net Photo » Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (ATSF) EMD GP7 RailPictures.Net Photo » Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (ATSF) EMD SD45 RailPictures.Net Photo » Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (ATSF) EMD F7(A)

I think the actual situation is more complicated. I'm somewhat of a Santa Fe fan, but mostly post-1970, so can someone expand on this?

One final question, I read that up until 1960 ATSF still had some steam on their roster and had used some as late as 1957. Did they ever use any after that, since they shopped a lot of steam locomotives during that time?
The last steam in revenue service on ATSF was in 1957. In '56 and '57, the only steam in use were 4-8-4s and 2-10-4s, about five units. They were used only in helper service in Abo Canyon during the summers.
 

lucakiki

New Member
Thank you. Now, to narrow it even more,any pictures of an EMD F/7 A & B in freight colors in years 1954----->1960 ?
I would like to use such engines hauling freight while a lash of up of redbonnet F/7 A+B+B+A hauls a passenger consist such as this one:

convoglio_santa_fe.jpg


Any suggestion?
 

steamhead

Active Member
Unfortunately, I can't tell an F3 from an Fxwhatever.....:cry: Only thing I do know is that the warbonnet paint scheme was the best scheme of any railroad hauling whatever was coupled behind it....One of these days, I'm gonna have a Super Chief streaking over the rails of my LC&P..!!! And everything else better get outta the way..!!! :mrgreen::mrgreen:
 

ed acosta

Member
My personal collection of 1950s ATSF diesels began with the Geeps which are Lindsay brass castings mounted on Athearn chassis, then painted and decaled. The FTs are repainted early Bachman shells on Athearn chassis and the B unit is a Cary casting. The blue/yellow freighters are all repainted Athearns. The slightly detailed PA, PB units are Athearns. I also have new Bachman F-7 A-B-B-A units (not shown) that are being detailed and are to be painted soon. Lots of hours and little money spent on this collection.

ATSF_edited.jpg
 

Triplex

Active Member
Unfortunately, I can't tell an F3 from an Fxwhatever.....
Well, a late-production F3 does look almost identical to an early F7, and I can't tell them apart. Santa Fe also modified most if not all of its F3s to look like F7s - or was it to look like F9s?
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
I just noticed how old this thread is. I had forgotten what I had written in this thread, but after reading it over, I have some further information to add to some of the questions that have been raised.

First, my friend Jim Fuhrmann has done a lot of research on the disposition of the f-units on the Santa Fe. He has been able to trace every f3a, f7a, and f9a on the roster. He could not determine what happened to the b units, but I suspect that they were never removed from the roster, just canabilised as a source of spare parts for the cf7s.

Santa Fe's F-units (F3, F7, F9 and CF7 Rebuilds)

Roger, there was a lot more to converting a f7 into a cf7 than removing bodies and replacing them. The problem was that the body is the frame on a f7. What Santa Fe did was build a brand new frame and body to put the mechanical and electrical components into. The early cf7s had round roof cabs, which were sectioned out of the old f unit bodies. The later units received "Topeka Cabs" which are a Santa Fe design. They look like standard Emd cabs except that they are taller to allow more head room for the crew inside.

As far as the 2-6-6-2s are concerned, there was an article in Trains Magazine back in the 1980s, if I remember correctly, on Santa Fe's "Prairie Mallets". Santa Fe's mallet fleet lasted only about 10 years. They did not look like anything anybody else ever ran. The Santa Fe tried 2-6-6-2s, 2-8-8-2s, and 2-10-10-2s about 1910, maybe 1905. I think by 1920 all of the mallets had been used to build 2-6-2s, 2-8-2s, and 2-10-2s. Basically they got 2 locomotives out of each mallet. Santa Fe not only articulated the frames on their mallets, but they also put a bellows type hinge in the center of the boiler! Unfortunately, the bellows tended to fill with water which froze in the winter! All of the mallets were compound units where the steam for the rear drivers was exhaust steam from the front drivers. The problem was that even when they didn't have problems with the boiler hinges, they still didn't work very well. In addition most if not all of the mallets had "whale back" tenders. It was not until WW2 when the Santa Fe got some USRA 2-8-8-2s from the Norfolk & Western that they realised that they needed to put bigger fire boxes in a mallet type to generate enough steam for what was essentially two locomotives on one frame. They thought about building some big mallets following WW2, but by the time the war ended, they had made the commitment to convert to diesel.
 

Triplex

Active Member
He could not determine what happened to the b units, but I suspect that they were never removed from the roster, just canabilised as a source of spare parts for the cf7s.
Some became slugs that were often used with CF7s. Some became Locotrol receiver cars.
there was a lot more to converting a f7 into a cf7 than removing bodies and replacing them. The problem was that the body is the frame on a f7. What Santa Fe did was build a brand new frame and body to put the mechanical and electrical components into.
I thought they discovered that the F-unit frames were stronger than expected, and all they needed was new reinforcing side sills?
 

rogerw

Active Member
I thought they discovered that the F-unit frames were stronger than expected, and all they needed was new reinforcing side sills?
Thats what I thought I read in that one post also but may have missed something. Interesting that the big boys (EMD and GE I think it said) didnt want to touch this project.
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
The f-unit frame was more like a modern unit body automobile frame than a separate frame body construction. When they cut off the cab down to the sills, I don't think there was much frame left. That is why the new side sills were so deep compared to the sills on a gp9 for instance.
 
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