Santa Fe Passenger Locomotives - U30CG and U28CG

[081552]

What happened to Santa Fe's GE passenger locomotives (U30CG and U28CG) after the start of Amtrak in 1971? Any idea why Santa Fe ordered new passenger locomotives so late in the era of private operation?

[csmith9474]

This site saves me a little typing...

http://atsf.railfan.net/cowls/u30cg.html

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

ATSF, GN and SAL purchased SDP and passenger U-boats more out of necessity than anything else.  There was a lead editorial in "Trains" in 1965 or so commenting on SAL's purchase of SDP35's, generally to replace aging E's on secondary trains.  GN bought SDP40's and SDP45's for the "Western Star" and "Empire Builder" for unit reduction to replace aging F-units on those runs.  ATSF bought the U28CG's, U30CG's and FP45's for the same reason.

[Anonymous]

I know that in the mid to late 70's they were freight service, the steam gen.'s were removed as there compartment was empty. The one thing I found interesting about them is the way GE mated the full carbody to the frame of a standard U-Boat frame so the entire car body from the cab back could be lifted off for heavy repairs.

[SSW9389]

The U28CGs and U30CGs were taken out of passenger service after the February 9, 1969 wreck of the Grand Canyon west of Chillicothe, Illinois. 

[Bob-Fryml]

Union Pacific had a small fleet of SDP35s as well.  They numbered around ten and were numbered in the 1400 series. 

During part of the 1978-79 winter, U.P. parked one of these units and a U.P. coach in the business car spur at Cheyenne.  They were kept on house steam.  Due to frequently harsh weather conditions over Sherman Hill in which the roads to Laramie and points west would be closed, U.P. had this equipment on standby ready to deadhead any crews as conditions required. 

I-80 may have been closed frequently during that cold and snowy season, but Union Pacific always managed to get through.