Last weekend I identified another Cotton Belt FTA that had been rebuilt on an F7 frame. So there are two of a kind of these rebuilds, not one of a kind like SSW 921. This second rebuild predates the first by about a year. And I found it in a photo in Trains magazine. See the article Fast Freight by David P. Morgan in the November 1949 Trains page 48. The unit in question is Cotton Belt 920D. Upon magnification you can see the overhanging frame at the back of the unit, indicating rebuild on a new frame. The 920D was wrecked at Renault, Illinois on November 16, 1948. And it only took 66 years to reveal this rebuild fact.
Ed in Kentucky
SSW9389 Last weekend I identified another Cotton Belt FTA that had been rebuilt on an F7 frame. So there are two of a kind of these rebuilds, not one of a kind like SSW 921. This second rebuild predates the first by about a year. And I found it in a photo in Trains magazine. See the article Fast Freight by David P. Morgan in the November 1949 Trains page 48. The unit in question is Cotton Belt 920D. Upon magnification you can see the overhanging frame at the back of the unit, indicating rebuild on a new frame. The 920D was wrecked at Renault, Illinois on November 16, 1948. And it only took 66 years to reveal this rebuild fact. Ed in Kentucky
Ed,
I was impressed with your work on the earlier rebuild, and more so now, not myself having access to November 1949 Trains.
But I assume that we are talking about a unit that is basically an FT in a longer body, like 921....
I'm a little concerned about what we should call a unit that puts the whole machinery of an early unit in a later body, using the original body styling.
Taking Santa Fe's E-8ms as an example, these were only distinguishable from a standard E-8 by the roller bearings on the trucks, and only the trucks and main generators were reused. (In the case of the two units rebuilt from 1A and 1B, the trucks would have been new...).
So an F7m would be expected to be basically an F-7 with an old generator and motors, and a lower rating (but a 567B engine).
But what we have two examples of here is an FT A unit in a new longer body which while technically could be described as a modified version of the unit that supplied the frame, might be better described as an FT Am based on its equipment and appearance...
M636C
There is a photo of the 923 (920D) on Richard Percy's site. It shows the 923 after it was sold to EMD for parts. See http://espee.railfan.net/sswftab.html . Note the forward position of the front truck. You can see the frame overhang behind the back truck. The photo in the Trains November 1949 clinched the identity because it showed more of the side of the unit.
It's hard to say what EMD called this rebuilt unit. According to EMD historian Andre Kristopans this rebuild was done back when EMD was using five digit work orders. There is no written documentation from EMD that has been located. Cotton Belt rosters from Special Instructions show both the 921 and 923 with the FTs and make no other distinction.
That is a great photo...
I do like the punched Farr grilles. The frame obviously came with an F-7 nose with large number boards, but behind the cab door we have an FT, if a liitle longer than average.
I can see why you might want to call it an F-7Am.
This has to be classified as a wreck repair rather than a modernisation but it was effectively still an FT requiring FT spares. It is the very antithesis of ATSF 99 which was a GP-7 with FT trucks and generator, rated at 1350HP.
There may be other examples of this on other roads, where the frame was damaged but the majority of power equipment survived.
The exact details of what was replaced inside both Cotton Belt 921 and 923 are unknown at this time. A late 1948 EMD photo of the 920D (923) being stripped for parts is now on Facebook. It shows that the high voltage electrical cabinet with wires dangling is still in place on the parts donor unit. The new unit would have got new cable runs and other new components. Joe Strapac told me that EMD would have placed as many new parts as possible into the rebuild so that it could be warrantied.
After rereading Preston Cook's "Re-engineering the FT" (pp 39-41) in the Spring 2015 issue of Classic Trains I'm saying that there was quite a bit of F7 in both the 921 and the 923 rebuilds.
I keep being distracted from going to my local 'reading room' (the local hobby-shop book collection) and checking -- but if someone has a copy of the old Kalmbach publication "Mr. D's Machine" I remember something about at least one of the Cotton Belt rebuilds, with a photograph.
Thank you Wizlish, other than photographs there has been no written documentation of these rebuilds. The Cotton Belt FTs were involved in two serious wrecks within 54 weeks. Other units were involved and likely got some attention at EMD, but the two A units with the oval builder's plates got the most attention. I'm still looking for good profile photos of Cotton Belt FTB units. They are beyond scarce.
Wizlish I keep being distracted from going to my local 'reading room' (the local hobby-shop book collection) and checking -- but if someone has a copy of the old Kalmbach publication "Mr. D's Machine" I remember something about at least one of the Cotton Belt rebuilds, with a photograph.
Last week I discovered a photo of a Cotton Belt FT B unit with the dynamic brakes centered over the four portholes. The EMD FT B template shows the back edge of the dynamic brakes located directly over a point between the 2nd and 3rd portholes. The unit in the photo appears to be another rebuild on an F7 frame.
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