Hi Everybody,
The following account, found on the www.atsfrr.com web site, grabbed my attention: "On April 6, 1950, the Howard Branch saw its first diesel and its last passenger train - and it was a dandy. Arrangements had been made to ship a trainload of grade school students to the Kansas City Zoo and - reluctantly - for their return. And so at 7:35 on that morning freight diesel 175 rolled north past the Eureka station with a steam generator car for train heating and 23 coaches - almost certainly a record." (James Burke, Iron Horse and I)
As I look for reasons to run something "unusual" on "our" (my son's and mine) railroad, which is Santa Fe in the 50s somewhere in Western Texas (hey, Kansas is not that far away), a train like this would be intriguing (although I do not think we could bring it to 23 coaches). I assume "freight diesel 175" means the whole FT ABBA set (if not, please correct me). However, I was wondering what Santa Fe was using as steam generator cars at that time (and, how easy would it be to model those). I know of the later (1970s) ATSF steam generator cars (like the 139) which were built from baggage cars, and which you can buy as brass models.
Any help is appreciated.
JW
SSW9389 wrote:There is a photo of a 9000 class sg car in Valley Division Vignettes dating from the early '50s. The detail is not great, but I can tell from looking at the photo that it is shorter than a booster unit, though somewhat similar in style and the same height as an F unit. The Military Main train in the photo is led by freight F7s #281LA (1st) near Glen Frazer, CA. Hope this helps some.
Wasn't that thing a re-built tender? I recall seeing pics of it somewhere and it was blue and yellow IIRC.
All the steam generator cars were converted tenders from the 1357, 1360, 1361, 1364 and 1367 4-6-2 SF locomotives. The conversions were done in the Topeka shops.
CHUCK
Get a copy of "Iron horses of the Santa Fe trail." They are shown on page 479
Thanks everybody for your help. Based on your information I found out that 3 years ago The Coach Yard actually produced a brass model of these steam generator cars. On their web site http://www.thecoachyard.com/Pages/AllImages.lasso?RecId=248 you can find pics of their model as well as of the prototype. These pics look like a good starting point for building a model. And I will check out the recommended books.
Andy Sperandeo MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the tip. I have ordered the issue.
SSW9389There is a photo of a 9000 class sg car in Valley Division Vignettes dating from the early '50s. The detail is not great, but I can tell from looking at the photo that it is shorter than a booster unit, though somewhat similar in style and the same height as an F unit. The Military Main train in the photo is led by freight F7s #281LA (1st) near Glen Frazer, CA. Hope this helps some.
Hi Ed (SSW9389),
I do not know if you still have an occasional look at this forum (your most recent entry was from last year), and I am aware that this is an ancient thread (started by me). I would like to tell you that I recently obtained a used copy of the book for a reasonable price. The picture you refer to is actually only the second one I could ever find of one of these steam generator cars in service. Thank you very much!
DrWAs I look for reasons to run something "unusual" on "our" (my son's and mine) railroad, which is Santa Fe in the 50s somewhere in Western Texas (hey, Kansas is not that far away), a train like this would be intriguing (although I do not think we could bring it to 23 coaches)
As a purely Texan reason to run such a train, when my Dad was in high school, his school's football team played for the Texas State Championship (Dad played guard) - which is an immensely important deal in that state (Dad said that when he heard the title of the TV show, "Friday Night Lights" he knew immediately what it was about. Just think about it, it was the Thirties, the height of the Depression, when people weren't sure of where their next meal was coming from, and his home town was willing to pay for lights in their stadium). Anyway, the game was to be played in Dallas at what was then the Texas State Fairgrounds (later the Cotton Bowl) - over 30,000 fans for a high school game! The Louisiana & Arkansas put on several chartered passenger extras to haul all the fans (To give you an idea, my Granddad and Grandma, my Aunt Rose (cheerleader), Uncle Jimmy (halfback), and Uncle Milton and Aunt Millie (the babies of the family) and, of course, Dad were on one of the trains). Dad said if a gang of robbers wanted to loot Greenville that day, they could have worked their way from one end to the other with nobody to stop them! Once the trains arrived in Dallas, the Greenville fans, school band and team leading, marched through the streets to the stadium. The Game? Greenville became the State Champs! PS-Dad then went on to play for Texas A&M's National Championship team in college, before being injured and having to give up football. So now you have a reason to run a huge passenger train or two and, even the season is correct, we're talking November, so that steam heat could be welcome.
PS: If I remember, "Friday Night Lights" was based on a non-fiction account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa, which is definately in your territory of West Texas
BEAUSABRE As a purely Texan reason to run such a train, when my Dad was in high school, his school's football team played for the Texas State Championship (Dad played guard) - which is an immensely important deal in that state (Dad said that when he heard the title of the TV show, "Friday Night Lights" he knew immediately what it was about....
As a purely Texan reason to run such a train, when my Dad was in high school, his school's football team played for the Texas State Championship (Dad played guard) - which is an immensely important deal in that state (Dad said that when he heard the title of the TV show, "Friday Night Lights" he knew immediately what it was about....
Great story! Thanks for sharing.
DrWI assume "freight diesel 175" means the whole FT ABBA set (if not, please correct me).
Generally, an A-B-B-A set of FTs was really two A-B sets with drawbars between the A and B units, and couplers to connect the the two sets together...even if all four had the same number and were considered one 'locomotive' by the railroad. In that time, many railroads were still servicing engines in roundhouses. An A-B set of Fs would fit on a typical late-steam turntable, so could be moved into an appropriate roundhouse stall. I would guess, unless this train was very long, one A-B set would be sufficient?