Amtrak bought these engines 'used' from the Santa Fe. The Santa Fe built them out of old F units! Most were built long after passenger service ended on the Santa Fe. I am sure Amtrak bought them for use as switchers and for MOW trains. The 'Torpedo Tube' air tanks on the roof are an indication that the original unit may have had a train heat boiler at one time. Adding the roof mounted tanks frees up underbody space for additional fuel capacity or boiler water if S/G equipped. Many road switchers have a 'road/switch' feature - this changes the 'loading up' of the unit. You want the unit to load up slow when starting a freight train, but to load fast when kicking cars while switching. By the time Amtrak purchased the CF7's, they were just about converted to HEP power and a S/G would have been of little use anyway....
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
For my new layout I've gotten an Amtrak RTR CF7 to be used as an Amtrak switcher. However being new to this whole NEC thing, I've a couple questions:
First, why did Amtrak put air resivoirs on the roof (torpedo tubes) of some of the CF7s? They weren't used in passenger service in any way were they?
Second, the CF7 has a special switch that allows them to be operated in either switcher or road modes, so did Amtrak use these engines in MOW service or just as switchers?
Any other information regarding the Amtrak CF7s would be appreciated as well!
Thanks!
~METRO