Lionel Santa Fe Engine Recommendation?

how about a Williams Santa Fe Dash 9...very little run time for $100.00 shipped...only in the greater 48 stares

Is that the DA-605 engine? If so, it looks to me like it has modern electronics.  Would it not be susceptible to damage from derailment when using a 1033 transformer without any breaker to the track in place?

let me check it out and get back to you

it's a Williams #DA101...with Electronic Horn...dual motor...Red & Silver Dash-8.....engine number #859.

Well, the Dash 8's showed up on the railways in the later 80's and early 90's.  I'm looking for an engine that was commonly used in the 60's or 70's.  Additionally, its proportions are not quite what I'm looking for. Thanks, though.

@ParkerDad posted:

...in order to prevent damage to the electronics when the inevitable (at least in my case) derailment occurs. Is that a correct understanding?

Close.

The damage from transients is ongoing,  in the presence of a derailment occurring or not, and is cumulative. The transients don't care what circuit breaker(s) or fuses you have, they are impervious to current overloads and go right through/around all breakers and fuses. You can see this with an oscilloscope.

This is why TVS diodes are required for sensitive electronic circuit protection, breakers are convenient, but optional.

While I'm far from an expert on Santa Fe engines, it seems to me that you are looking for a Frankenstein locomotive; a non-passenger road engine, from the 1950s or 1960s, painted in passenger train colors.  Since this would have been a very rare occurrence in the real world (if it ever happened at all?), it is not likely that any manufacturer would mass produce that model.  On the plus side, this is a hobby, so you are free to acquire a blue & yellow SF freight engine and repaint it to the way you like.

Chuck

@ParkerDad posted:

I'm looking for an engine that was commonly used in the 60's or 70's.

Check out these Williams diesels, and see if something you like has been made.  Half of mine have good old Lionel mechanical E-units and work perfectly with the 1033.

@PRR1950 posted:

While I'm far from an expert on Santa Fe engines, it seems to me that you are looking for a Frankenstein locomotive; a non-passenger road engine, from the 1950s or 1960s, painted in passenger train colors.  Since this would have been a very rare occurrence in the real world (if it ever happened at all?), it is not likely that any manufacturer would mass produce that model.  On the plus side, this is a hobby, so you are free to acquire a blue & yellow SF freight engine and repaint it to the way you like.

Chuck

Santa Fe only painted passenger locomotives (F3/7's, PA-1's, DL109's, FM Erie Builts, U28CG's, U30CG's, FP45's) in the Red Warbonnet.  There were no GP's painted in passenger colors during the 1960's-70's.  GP7's equipped with steam generators wore the freight schemes.  The PA's, DL109's and FM's were gone by Amtrak. 

Other surplus passenger locomotives after Amtrak was formed were regeared for freight service either retained their paint, were repainted to freight colors or particularly with the F's, variations of the Warbonnet in blue or yellow.

The Red Warbonnet was revived for freight service in 1989 when two freight converted FP45's emerged from the shops.

There have been several "fantasy" red warbonnet GP/SD locomotives offered over the past years.

Rusty

Chuck: "Frankenstein"- that made me laugh.  You are probably right.  Memory being what it is, I am probably incorrectly remembering how some of the road engines looked back in my childhood/youth.  I definitely remember the blue and yellow paint scheme, but I also recall seeing the red warbonnet while driving between SoCal and Phoenix on trips to visit relatives.  It does appear that the FP45 was used for hauling freight after 1971 and retained the red warbonnet.  Perhaps that is what I'm remembering.  I'm probably also confusing real life to my dad's HO gauge layout, which took up one half of a two-car garage.  He is a Santa Fe guy, and in the 60s and 70s wasn't constrained to be pure prototypical.  I'm pretty sure some of his freight engines had the red warbonnet scheme.

Rob - Thanks for the search link and for the information on transients.  So, do modern transformers resolve the issue with transients?  If so, is there a model you'd recommend?  I'm considering the future life of my setup and would like an easy-ish way to ensure that whoever takes over the set doesn't have to monitor things like the life of a diode.  I'm hoping my 8-year old daughter, who has said she wants to take the train to Mars with her when she goes there to terraform it, shouldn't have to worry about the availability of TVS diodes wherever she is.