Some F45's did have pass trough steam lines, and my guess ATS shoes. Were the F45's with F units and/or boiler cars used on any Amtrak trains?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Santa Fe kept their relatively new F45's and FP45's, the original Amtrak didn't get any. Amtrak bought all those new SDP40F units that looked superficially similar to F45's.
In those earlier Amtrak years, sometimes the railroads added their own power to help get Amtrak over the road, so you could add whatever power you wanted in your model railroad world without stretching credibility too much.
Originally Posted by Ace:
Santa Fe kept their relatively new F45's and FP45's, the original Amtrak didn't get any. Amtrak bought all those new SDP40F units that looked superficially similar to F45's.
And in an ironic twist of fate, Santa Fe later bought some of the SDP40F's from Amtrak, regeared them and place them in freight service.
Rusty
Santa Fe F7s were regular power on some western Amtrak trains during the early years. For example, here's the San Diegan in July of '73:
The above image is from railpictures.net. Additional views of ATSF F units in Amtrak service may be found there as well.
Bob
Attachments
Images (1)
In 1971, when Amtrak took over Santa Fe's then-remaining passenger trains, they leased some F7A and F7B units. Prior to Amtrak, Santa Fe did use some of the 90 MPH F45's, numbered 5920-5939*, as trailing units behind FP45's. After removing the ATS equipment from the Alco passenger units, it was reapplied to the 90 MPH F45's and then they could be used as controlling units on passenger. However, they lacked steam generators, so a small number of the passenger F7B units were converted to electric sand control and potential line control for dynamic braking (replacing the field loop control) and were used as trailing units when an ATS-equipped F45 was the controlling unit. This may have continued into the earliest days of Amtrak operation on Santa Fe, but -- if so -- did not last long before the big F7 lease occurred. Santa Fe also had some converted smooth side baggage cars with two salvaged OK-4740 steam generators in each, and these were sometimes used behind 90 MPH F45's, because the FP45's only had one steam generator and Santa Fe required steam for air conditioning as well as for heating and hot water. You could not ever trust a single steam generator. At least two in the engine consist would be prudent practice.
* 5900-5919 were restricted to 70 MPH, like other Santa Fe freight diesel-electric units. 5920-5939 were bought with 90 MPH gearing so they could be used on the Super-C freight train which was allowed to run at passenger train speed not exceeding 79 MPH.
