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Santa Fe PA Locomotives

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Posted by kgbw49 on Thursday, December 22, 2016 7:02 PM

A-A hauling a reefer block at Waynoka, OK...

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A-A-A-A - Amarillo by morning...

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A-A outrunning the camera shutter speed...

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A-B-A Fogg's Finest?...

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A-A passing a Southern Pacific passenger train in the hole...

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A-B at Bakersfield CA wih 4-6-4 3450...

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A-A tight squeeze...

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A-B Texas Chief...

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A in PA advertisement...

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A-B-A at Littleton CO...

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A-B-B station stop at Joliet IL...

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A - neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night, shall keep the PA from its appointed rounds...

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, December 23, 2016 6:44 AM

The set at Amarillo is probably on the "San Francisco Chief", the consist includes some Hi-Level coaches.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by rcdrye on Friday, December 23, 2016 7:17 AM

Tucked behind the Hi-Levels is the Great Dome, making it the SF Chief for sure.

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Posted by kgbw49 on Sunday, January 1, 2017 5:12 PM

ATSF PA 65 top down at Kansas City MO...

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ATSF PA 58 at Fort Worth TX...

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ATSF PA 53 in what looks to be some sort of celebratory version of the Warbonnet...it doesn't appear to be a photoshop job...

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, January 2, 2017 3:00 AM

[quote user="Firelock76"]

It's a shame the PA's didn't live up to ALCO's expectations, but wow, did they look good!

I:  I still say that properly maintained, tbey did live up to their promise.  Until McGinnis and Alpert, the New Haven ran the pants off them, passenger by day and freight by night.   I deeply respect EMD, the reliability of its products, and its excellent service organization, but Alco's did have their advantages.  The GE traction motors in the DC days were less likely to roast than EMD's.
 
Somebody ought to post some NYNH&H PA pics, also the ex-AT&SF's on the D&H.

 

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Posted by UPENG95 on Monday, January 2, 2017 4:10 AM

 

kgbw49

 

ATSF PA 53 in what looks to be some sort of celebratory version of the Warbonnet...it doesn't appear to be a photoshop job...

Image result for santa fe alco diesel locomotives

 

From another website:

This was part of a promotional train painted up for General Electric. In February of 1960, one PA along with a baggage car and three lounge cars were painted gold for GEs "Golden Values" promotion campaign in Southern California. The train ran between Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Bernardino, Fullerton and San Diego. Then the locomotive and the four cars were returned to their normal paint schemes.

 

ATSR freight Alco products along the Los Angeles river...

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That definitely is NOT Los Angeles.  The L.A. River doesn't curve at any location in the downtown area and the downtown area is the only location where the tracks would be very close.  In addition there would be SP/UP tracks on the oppposite side of the river also.

Nice photos regardless!

 

 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Monday, January 2, 2017 9:04 AM

That's interesting David, I knew the New Haven ran their ALCO DL-109's "passengers by day, freight by night,"  but I didn't think they did it with the PA's as well.

It is true the NH did get very good service out of all the ALCO products they bought.  Maybe they just understood them better than the other railroads did?

RME
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Posted by RME on Monday, January 2, 2017 9:12 AM

daveklepper
The GE traction motors in the DC days were less likely to roast than EMD's.

You can say that with a straight face, knowing what happened the first time the DL109s went over Raton?

Street car motors.  (I remove some other verbiage since this is nominally a family forum)

Later, yes, I think a 752 was superior to one of EMD's.  But still not up to Hexapole grade...

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Posted by SSW9389 on Monday, January 2, 2017 11:12 AM

Your Los Angeles River photo is actually near Argentine Yard in the Kansas City area.

COTTON BELT: Runs like a Blue Streak!
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Posted by SSW9389 on Monday, January 2, 2017 11:17 AM

Santa Fe's DL107/DL108 made only the one trip over Raton. The GE 730 "street car" traction motors were replaced by Santa Fe toward the end of WW2 with the much more robust GE 726 traction motors. The GE 726 was the immediate predecessor of the famous GE 752 traction motor.

 

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 8:34 AM

[quote user="RME"]

 

 
daveklepper
The GE traction motors in the DC days were less likely to roast than EMD's.

 

You can say that with a straight face, knowing what happened the first time the DL109s went over Raton?

Street car motors.  (I remove some other verbiage since this is nominally a family forum)

Later, yes, I think a 752 was superior to one of EMD's.  But still not up to Hexapole grade...

[/quote above]
 
Although the DL109's did give good service through WWII, and some lasted up and even through MsGinnis, I was referring to the PA's, not the DL109, in comparison to EMD.
DL109's and PA's handled thru freight on the Shoreline, but FA's were used to Maybrook.
 
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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 10:26 AM

What was the purpose of the 'plate with a hat' immediately adjacent to the horns on virtually all the ATSF PA pictures?

kgbw49

ATSF PA 65 top down at Kansas City MO...

Image result for santa fe alco diesel locomotives

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

RME
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Posted by RME on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 4:49 PM

BaltACD
What was the purpose of the 'plate with a hat' immediately adjacent to the horns on virtually all the ATSF PA pictures?

Antenna with ground plane?

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Posted by CNSF on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 7:29 PM

RME

 

 
BaltACD
What was the purpose of the 'plate with a hat' immediately adjacent to the horns on virtually all the ATSF PA pictures?

 

Antenna with ground plane?

 

 

Yep.   Added sometime in the late 50's to early 60's. 

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Posted by BOB FREITAS on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 8:41 PM
Imagine what those units sitting on the deadline would be worth today..in the same condition.
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Posted by kgbw49 on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 9:05 PM

As previously requested, here are a few more photos of the Santa Fe PAs that were repatriated back to "home turf" on the Delaware & Hudson to operate as Bluebonnets:

A-A-A near Afton NY...

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A-A-A at Lanesboro PA...

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A-A-A at Ninevah NY...

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Winter in what looks to be perhaps Montreal...

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At Albany with a Pennsylvania express box car on the drawbar...

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A-A-A-A on freight - in the tradition of ALCO FEFs utilized in dual use on the UP...

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Or an ALCO D&H 4-8-4 K-62...

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PA on freight nearby on the New Haven...

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A-A PAs on freight on the Lehigh Valley...

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Helper service on the Pennsy...

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And finally, back out West, in another classic paint scheme, doing a grand impersonation of a GS-4 on the Coast Daylight on Santa Susana Pass...

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 8:28 AM

PA's in freight service is not that unusual.  I don't believe that I ever saw Erie/EL PA's in passenger service.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 8:59 AM

In the last few years of EL's PAs the ones in the Chicago area were assigned to the Chicago-Marion (OH) freight pool.  There are several photos from that era of "borrowed" PAs being used on the Lake Cities as substitute power for the usual E8s.  I don't think EL regeared them for freight service.  They were hardly ever mixed with other power in an era when EL "lash-ups" could contain just about anything, even pool CRI&P power.

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Posted by pcapell on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 11:22 AM
What's the restoration status on the Mexican repatriots (except the NKP one)?
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Posted by kgbw49 on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 7:42 PM

Erie Lackawanna A-A PAs bringin' home the bacon on TOFC - foreshadowing the future on BNSF with ES44C4 units...

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At Kent OH on TOFC...

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Erie Lackawanna A-A-A on freight..

 

 

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Posted by kgbw49 on Thursday, January 5, 2017 9:09 PM

A-A-B on the plains...

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PA1s and F7s somewhere in California...

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A-B adjacent to freight units (FTs?)...

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, January 6, 2017 8:32 AM

Those are probably F3's or F7's.  FT's as built did not have the Farr filter grilles.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by rcdrye on Friday, January 6, 2017 8:59 AM

26L is a passenger F3.  For non-AT&SF folks, AT&SF gave the same number to four unit sets, with cabs L (lead) and C, and boosters A and B.  Somewhere out there (maybe on the other end of the F-unit string) was another F3 - 26C.

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Posted by Santa Fe Fan on Friday, January 6, 2017 10:57 AM

This is just a new obs on this subject. I've enjoyed all the photos but have not

seen any pics or heard any talk of the 51 set being re-engined by EMD. A fate

worse than scraping?

RME
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Posted by RME on Friday, January 6, 2017 1:41 PM

Santa Fe Fan
This is just a new obs on this subject. I've enjoyed all the photos but have not seen any pics or heard any talk of the 51 set being re-engined by EMD. A fate worse than scrapping?

Here's one of 51LAC for you ... from a previous thread in this forum:

The blister is not quite so pronounced on the PA as it was on the earlier Alco passenger carbody - here's Rock Island "Christine"

51L (the 'lead' cab of a nominally 6000-hp locomotive, with 51C being the 'rear' cab and 51A being a B unit ... what? you expect semantic consistency?) was notable for being Alco construction number 75,000.  The semantics gets worse: the rear cab (c/n 75002) was originally numbered 51B and was changed to 51C apparently in 2/55 at the time of re-engining.

 

 

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, January 6, 2017 1:53 PM

RI 621 was the last DL109 in active service, being retired around 1968. 

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by M636C on Friday, January 6, 2017 10:33 PM
pcapell wrote the following post 3 days ago:

What's the restoration status on the Mexican repatriots (except the NKP one)?

The status of the remaining single PA in the USA is covered in the current Trains magazine. Not much has been done to it but it has trucks now -it came back without them.(edited)

Peter

RME
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Posted by RME on Saturday, January 7, 2017 10:08 AM

Remaining single PA?  You mean Doyle's no longer counts?

M636C
Not much has been done to it but it has trucks now...

Of course, they're the wrong trucks -- visibly the wrong trucks -- but you won't hear me complaining about it if the locomotive operates. 

I wish them luck on the one being worked on in Texas.  Smile

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Posted by M636C on Saturday, January 7, 2017 4:52 PM

RME

Remaining single PA?  You mean Doyle's no longer counts?

 

 
M636C
Not much has been done to it but it has trucks now...

 

Of course, they're the wrong trucks -- visibly the wrong trucks -- but you won't hear me complaining about it if the locomotive operates. 

I wish them luck on the one being worked on in Texas.  Smile

 

I was replying to a previous post but must have been distracted at the time and didn't copy the post into my reply. I've edited my response to clarify this....

Peter

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, January 7, 2017 5:28 PM

Original ALCO PA six-wheel trucks are impossible to find, so I've been told, so both Doyle and the folks in Texas are doing the best they can. 

And as RME says, if they get them running again, who cares?

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