Locomotives

upjake:

That is what makes it so nice that these tourist trains and museums have repainted and preserved some F units. For me and I would bet even many non-train fans the 'covered wagons' bring up fond memories of the past. The 'RJ Corman' FP7s are great. Oh just one other question. As railroads bumped up to newer diesels in the 60s, was it ever sometimes common for some Fs to be kept for yard switching or other light work?

What to do with its old F units led Santa Fe to begin rebuilding them into CF7's beginning with 2649 in 1970.  Santa Fe was in an unusual situation since its road fleet had a higher percentage of F units than most other Class 1's and trading them in on GP38's to work local freights was not viewed at the time as a smart financial move. 

The Escanaba and Lake Superior still uses an F unit in freight service. It hasn't been repainted from its WSOR colors.

http://tr.youtube.com/watch?v=iMCFnUBBbcY

bubbajustin:

carnej1:

mudchicken:

Iowa Northern has 2 F40's in almost every day use.

But does an F40PH count as an "F unit"? After all it's a Cowled roadswitcher frame not a "covered wagon"...

I would count that as an F. A bit boxeir on the front end, but that's ok. I here that it is real hard to see backward out of the locomotives. Especially with 2 or three cabless booster's trailing behind.

 Not a problem with an F40 as there are no B units, it's a GP40-2 wearing a streamlined cowl after all...

CSSHEGEWISCH:

  Metro-North may have some FL9's and ex-C&NW F7A's in service on some branches on the New Haven line and as relief power.

Aren't the FL9's getting phased out by those new locomotives that look like a cross between an SD45, and a GP40? Ummmmmm..... Ohhhh What are thay called.... ummm... Built by Brookville Equipment Corporaton... Well, I can't think of the name... BL102 maby...no defanatley not that. That's the crummy locomotive nobody lliked before the Geep. Well I can't think of it. 

 Escapes me too, but the FL9s were phased out by the dual service Genesis units.

Thanks for the info.  I should have known that...

The Southern RR of NJ has a couple of F units that would occasionally make the trip from Salem to Swedesboro NJ.  Don't know if they've run recently - might just be sitting in the weeds in Salem.

 One that at last report still is:  The Gettysburg Northern out of Gettysburg, Pa. with two F-units.

Goderich-Exeter used to run ex-CN FP9A's in service with their geeps but the F units are out of commission right now. This is according the Canadian railfans bible, the Canadian Trackside Guide 2009. The F's, nos. 1400 and 1401, were originally brought to the GEXR to power the snowploughs. The Locomotive special issue of 2007 covered their snowplough operation.  

I would not call Norfolk Southern business trains tourist operations, and of course NS has its F-units (A-B-B-A) for such trains. They run pretty regularly.

In a similar vein, there is an IC (still painted IC, I think, not CN) E-8 that pulls business trains.

The original F units (and E units for that matter) were almost all purchased by major railroads in the late forties and fifties. There were good reasons for this. The new road diesels were expensive and the majors were the ones with the money and cash flow to pay for them. Diesel technology developed pretty fast during those early years and by the time the F9 and E8 came along these units were quite efficient at moving freight and passengers in over the road operations. But they made horrible switchers due to the poor visibility, especially to the rear. Even an A-B-B-A lashup was a pain for switching operations but it did help avoid the hassle of turning the power at the end of a run. But once the road switcher design came into fashion the railroads had a locomotive that could do it all, freight, passenger and switching.

It was not easy to convert an E or F unit into a road switcher because the body structure that shrouded the internal components provided structural support, unlike the heavy frame of a road switcher. Only the Santa Fe and a very few other roads tried it. So, as these units aged they weren't very useful to move down to branchline service because they made such problematic switchers. Similarly, selling the units to short lines or branch lines had limited appeal. By the time these lines could afford diesels (even used ones) they wanted road switchers or units like GE's 44 tonner rather than old F units from the major roads.

Thus, trade-in programs became immensely popular. The GP7 was essentially the guts of an F7 in a roadswitcher car body as was the GP9 the guts of an F9 in a similar body. So it was no trouble for GM to take these units as trade-ins, overhaul the prime mover, electrical gear, trucks and traction motors and end up with essentially a new much more useful unit at a fraction of the cost of a conventional new unit.

Will we ever see similar "covered wagon" designs regain popularity? Only in long haul passenger or freight service and then the cowl will probably be non structural as in the F40 unit and its derivatives, or the new units built for Amtrak. Making the cowl nonstructural simply makes maintenance so much easier that there are few reasons not to build units that way.

Still, there is something about a brace of covered wagons in a snappy paint job that the newer units just can't match in appearance, especially when pulling a string of lightweight cars from the age of the streamliners. Such beautiful trains. The new Superliners pale in comparison.

   I would have to try and find the info for these pics to give an exact date, but it was about a year and a half ago, that I spotted this F unit ( 9, I believe). It was stopped just outside of Moscow, ID almost on the Washington border.

   Needless to say the Black Widow paint caught my eye, it has MRLX reporting marks, which as I recall, are for Rail America (Not Montana Rail Link). When I did some research, I found that this was an ex-Via Rail unit, if my memory still serves me well. Still working in Revenue service, earning her keep.

   Edit: It is a Mid America Rail Car Leasing unit, not Rail America. I also was able find a little more info, this unit was originally built for CN, then went to Via.

Doug

Cape May Seashore Lines, operator of the former Pennsylvania-Reading

Seashore Lines 'Cape May Branch' in Cape May County, NJ has on lease

from The United Railroad Historical Society, two ex- C&NW F7s. They

were painted and correctly numbered to resemble Lehigh Valley units.

They alternate with an original PRR GP9, that has been perfectly

restored to its 'as delivered' condition. It is still numbered 7000, the same

number it had on 'day one' with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Throughout its life, the number has

remained 7000.

I'm surprised the Reading Technical & Historical Society hasn't 'jumped in' with their original,

mint condition Reading FP7s. They also have one awaiting (?) restoration.

jckid1934