Santa Fe Freight Locos

[Anonymous]

I hope this is not a real dumb question, but here it is anyhow.

I have seen numerous layouts and layout photos using red & silver warbonnets (F3's, F7's, PA's, etc.) to pull freight consists. However, I can't seem to locate any "real life" photos of this. All of the freights are hauled by freight blue & yellow locos (FT's F7's etc.)

Did the Santa Fe ever use their red & silver warbonnets to pull freight on a regular basis or even in power shortages?

I have a warbonnet F7 ABBA & passenger consist, and am wondering if these engines would have ever pulled a freight consist. I have SF freight cars and caboose and would like to know if it would be remotely prototypical. I am modeling the transition era 1959-1960.

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?

[Anonymous]

The warbonnets were for passenger trains. But remember the railroad was in the business of moving freight. Every once in a while a passenger loco might be assigned to a freight train if their had been a break down, but the reverse would never be true as the freight locos didn't have water heaters for the passenger cars.

Bob

[Anonymous]

I also read somewhere (who knows where!!!) that they often used the passenger locos to pull a consist of both passenger cars and freight cars.

[Anonymous]

See this thread under the "Prototype Information" topic.

[Anonymous]

If I remember correctly all F7 A units were not equipt with steam generators only the B units recieved them, so it probably wasn't to uncommon to see them in freight service. Especially after Amtrak was formed I imagine alot of F units in Red and Silver paint were left to be used in freight service.
Heres some photos
Alco PA
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=50098
EMD F7s
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=55157
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=52724

[Don Gibson]

With the end of passnger hauling, Santa Fe had a SURPLUS of passenger engines
For the most part AT&SF passenger engines didn't haul freight, but were available from the motor pool.Some passenger F7B's got added to F7 freight consist's when added horsepower was needed on aging units.

Some passenger F7 AB;s were readied for freight service (300 class?) and painted up in 'Yellow War Bonnrt's and 'Blue War Bonnet's,

Some F7's were reuilt into CF-7's as 1500 HP switchers.
.
Steam was primarily used as 'Back up' by 1955

[cacole]

There was a video on RFD-TV last year entitled, "Santa Fe Warbonnets over Raton Pass" which showed many warbonnets heading up freight trains pulled by both the red and silver and blue and yellow paint schemes; so yes, Santa Fe used the warbonnets for freight service after Amtrak was formed and Santa Fe stopped passenger service. After all, they wouldn't just junk hundreds of passenger locomotives when passenger service ceased, especially since most of them were relatively new.

[Anonymous]

Don is rifgt. As the passenger business dwindled in the early 60's the surplus
of available power was switched to freight op's. The steam generators were removed,
and they were reclassed as freight power.

[twhite]

As far as steam goes, I know that by 1952, Santa Fe had--for all intents and purposes--stopped using steam to head their trains in the Tehachapis in California, only using them as helpers. I remember seeing some Santa Fe steam around Bakersfield in the 1950's, but it was usually smaller steam on locals. The last time I saw a steam locomotive heading a train in the Tehachapis was around 1951 when I was there, it was one of their big 2-10-2's and that was about the noisiest locomotive I ever remember hearing--it sounded like a sub-machine gun rattling up the grade from Caliente to Cliff. You could hear it for miles before you saw it. Although I never thought the Santa Fe steamers were as handsome as Espee's, they had a certain fascination about them.
Tom

[Anonymous]

I thought I read somewhere (and for the life of me, I can't remember where right now), that even in the 50's SF sometimes used the passenger locos to pull all-mail trains, and even occasionally all-reefer trains that had to move quickly, since the passenger locos had different gearing and faster top speeds.

Wish I could remember where I saw that...
[%-)]

[Anonymous]

I found my source -- my lovely bride got me a copy of the book "Railroad Color History - Santa Fe Railway" for Christmas, and it has a picture of a ABB string of red & silver warbonnet F7s pulling a string of reefers out of Chicago in 1963. The note with the picture said SF sometimes used spare passenger power to pull time-critical extras such as reefers.

So it would probably be safe to assume that the practice started in the 50's, since moving produce from California to Chicago and points in between was a big source of freight revenue for the SF before they went heavily into intermodal traffic. Means I can take the passenger F7 AB Stewart set I have in storage out and put a string of reefers behind it to run on my layout when I get the mainline done. [yeah]

[SSW9389]

Emery Gulash filmed Santa Fe Warbonnets in freight service in Santa Fe Salute. This would have been early '60's.

Joe McMillan has a photo of a single warbonnet F7A on the Super C from about 1968 or 1969.

John Signor's Tehachapi has a photo of an F7ABBA warbonnets set leading a four unit set of SD24s. The lead was 343L a dual service unit.

Again as stated on the Prototype Information MR Forum it was the dual service F7ABBs that would be used for this type of service because of their intermediate gearing.

[Anonymous]

ya i've seen a couple at www.railpictures.net

[Anonymous]

And occasionally their E's would show up in freight service, particularly near the end.