"Santa Fe"

Yes, sir!

When is was in Middle School, I was in Sugar Land TX, watching SP trains.  ATSF trains had rights on this track.  I did see the TX CHIEF come through, towards Houston in late afternoon.  At the time I had the High Chair cars on it.  $ f units, fewer cars, no transition baggage. one of those "WOW" moments.

I know what you mean!

Thanks.  What an awesome pic!  The SF F-3 has been my favorite since I was little and had a big layout in the basement.  

When I was 13 and we moved into a new house, my father packed the trains into two huge TV boxes and put them in a basement storeroom at his store.  They broke in to steal TV's, must have seen the trains in one box and took three original F-3's along with most of the other engines, cars, and switches.  They left the boxes, one of them full of track and accessories.  Only when I got married, had two kids, and got a house with a big, unfinished, attic did I go back for the trains.  It was quite a shock to discover those boxes looted, but there was enough left to start again.  

I was a ballplayer and my dad was a serious worker, who could build anything.  By far, the most fun we ever had together was building a huge layout with 9 full 4X8's in that attic.  I had to go to a lot of shows to replace those F-3's and switches, but after two years, we and my kids were running seven engines at a time on a layout that was all conventional.

When my parents passed, we moved into their house which has a major rec room that my dad built almost by himself from bare concrete.  After the kids grew up, I built another table layout through the side rooms, because I had seen the "new" SF F-3's and had to have one that was absolutely pristine.  This year, I completed an overhead layout that goes around most of the rec room.  After reading this forum, it had to be all DCS.  Finally, I received my first DCS Santa Fe F-3 last month to complete my goal of four DCS engines on two 100 ft. tracks.  

To me, it looks awesome up there.  So, I figure that all of this, and the four other family layouts that have come and gone, would not have happened if not for the beauty of Santa Fe F-3's.  My dad would have loved these two latest layouts.

Jerry G.

Ed Mullan posted:

When I think of the Santa Fe, this is the picture that pops into my mind.

ABBBA  F's

This is another of Puta's photos Marty Bernard put up on "RailPictures"

Ed

What cars are those in the pic? ( double height ones)

Engineer-Joe posted:

Ed Mullan posted:

When I think of the Santa Fe, this is the picture that pops into my mind.

ABBBA  F's

This is another of Puta's photos Marty Bernard put up on "RailPictures"

Ed

What cars are those in the pic? ( double height ones)

According to the caption on the photo, that train is the combined Super Chief - El Capatin. Thus, the "Hi-Level" cars are the El Capatin cars.

Thank you.

Now I'm really going to need the SF F7's!

Engineer-Joe posted:

Thank you.

Now I'm really going to need the SF F7's!

But, you will also "need" the Golden Gate Depot AT&SF Super Chief plus the El Capatin passenger train sets.

Go for it, Joe!  You can never have too much Home Road equipment. 

And I just received a request to confirm my order for El Capitan cars, so it may not be too late for you to get in on the second run of them if you act quickly.  

JerryG posted:

. . . I had to go to a lot of shows to replace those F-3's and switches, but after two years, we and my kids were running seven engines at a time on a layout that was all conventional. . .

To me, it looks awesome up there.  So, I figure that all of this, and the four other family layouts that have come and gone, would not have happened if not for the beauty of Santa Fe F-3's.  My dad would have loved these two latest layouts.

Jerry G.

What a great story, Jerry.  Thanks for posting it.  Your photo of the F3's on the ceiling layout brought back memories of the similar 2353 F3 4-car freight set that my parents gave me for Christmas in 1953.

Fresh out of the box at EMD:

Rusty

Beautiful !

Rusty;

Doesn't get any better. Thanks for posting.

Nothing like an EMD "builder photo", in color no less!  Naturally, the Engineering Dept. Company Photographer only shot color in the "pleasant months", since it was a pain in the backside, lugging that huge 8X10 camera & tripod plus film holders, out to the photo locations, in the yard. Having seen most of those truly stupendous color 8X10 transparencies & negatives, the sharpness of detail is breath taking.

Also note, there are no lifting lugs on the nose.

Outstanding story.

Yep, quintessential Santa Fe.

Now, we think of WB F's as Passenger power, and blue F's as freight.  But did not the SF have Blue F's with steam generators.  And I have seen pics of WB's on freights.  So ATSF was not "pure" on power if the situation required?

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Now, we think of WB F's as Passenger power, and blue F's as freight.  But did not the SF have Blue F's with steam generators.  And I have seen pics of WB's on freights.  So ATSF was not "pure" on power if the situation required?

Some of the first FT's were blue with steam generators.  They were repainted into warbonnet for a time, then repainted blue and returned to freight service as more passenger F's became available.  None of the "freight" F7's or F9's had steam generators.

The 300 and 325 class F-7's were delivered in red warbonnet and were dual service locomotives, their gearing allowing for use with either freight or passenger trains.

"Freight" units could sub when necessary on a passenger train as long as there was a steam generator car in the consist.

Plus, Santa Fe had steam generator equipped GP's for secondary passenger service in zebra stripes and later blue/yellow bookends.

Rusty

Hot Water posted:

Nothing like an EMD "builder photo", in color no less!  Naturally, the Engineering Dept. Company Photographer only shot color in the "pleasant months", since it was a pain in the backside, lugging that huge 8X10 camera & tripod plus film holders, out to the photo locations, in the yard. Having seen most of those truly stupendous color 8X10 transparencies & negatives, the sharpness of detail is breath taking.

Also note, there are no lifting lugs on the nose.

Nor is there a Mars light or FARR grills...  Yet.

Rusty

A beautiful thing indeed, my favorite for as long as I can remember. The Super Chief will always have a place on my layout.

I almost forgot that I do have one of them....

You can almost smell the twin motors....the Magne-Traction ! 

Great story Jerry!

Ah, the Sani-Flush!  A classic and classy railroad in every sense of the word.

I have many mental images of the Warbonnet F's from back in my youth years in the KC area.  We used to go over the 18th St Expressway (I think?) on our way to church and other places... there was an overpass hard fast against the Sani-Flush's large engine terminal on the east end of their Argentine facility. Great stuff was down there!  Also saw lots of ATSF freight action all around the KC area.

So yes... some good Warbonnet images reside in me ol' cranium.

HOWEVER...

I may get stoned for what I'm about to say in this Warbonnet thread, but here goes...

I also LOVE the blue "Cigar Band" freight scheme!!  Love it indeed!  How can you get images that scream "Classic F Unit!" more so than images such as this?

Is that not some of the coolest F's around?  LOVE all the "gaggle" and "foof" that the Sani-Flush adorned their F's with as they worked their way through their service life.

AND... time for a terrible, terrible confession...

(i like the sani-flush "junk" era)

I can already hear you rabid Sani-Flush fans screaming: "What? WHAT??? STONE HIM! STONE HIM!"

Sacrilege? Absolutely. Blasphemous? Possibly.

But them's the facts, kid, the facts. Toward the end of the F years... the ol' Sani-Flush (as did most of the rairloads) let their F's run out their final miles with minimal maintenance. This made for some VERY interesting weathering effects that essentially made every F look unique to itself. 

ATTN!:  Santa Fe purists may want to close their eyes at this point so as to retain their illusion that the Santa Fe only ran PERFECTLY maintained motive power. 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Now, for those of you brave enough to view this next image, I offer the following picture of such an F unit that plied the rails of the mighty ATSF:

Isn't that GLORIOUS?  Just look at all the mind blowing weathering effects that would be so fun to replicate in miniature.

Yeah, I know: I'm sick, man, sick.

Have fun!

I hate to admit that I never noticed the lifting lugs that everyone is talking about. Well there they are!

I don't know what year that blue #227's picture was taken? It sure looks like it was a great investment.

laming posted:

Great story Jerry!

Ah, the Sani-Flush!  A classic and classy railroad in every sense of the word.

I have many mental images of the Warbonnet F's from back in my youth years in the KC area.  We used to go over the 18th St Expressway (I think?) on our way to church and other places... there was an overpass hard fast against the Sani-Flush's large engine terminal on the east end of their Argentine facility. Great stuff was down there!  Also saw lots of ATSF freight action all around the KC area.

So yes... some good Warbonnet images reside in me ol' cranium.

HOWEVER...

I may get stoned for what I'm about to say in this Warbonnet thread, but here goes...

I also LOVE the blue "Cigar Band" freight scheme!!  Love it indeed!  How can you get images that scream "Classic F Unit!" more so than images such as this?

Is that not some of the coolest F's around?  LOVE all the "gaggle" and "foof" that the Sani-Flush adorned their F's with as they worked their way through their service life.

AND... time for a terrible, terrible confession...

(i like the sani-flush "junk" era)

I can already hear you rabid Sani-Flush fans screaming: "What? WHAT??? STONE HIM! STONE HIM!"

Sacrilege? Absolutely. Blasphemous? Possibly.

But them's the facts, kid, the facts. Toward the end of the F years... the ol' Sani-Flush (as did most of the rairloads) let their F's run out their final miles with minimal maintenance. This made for some VERY interesting weathering effects that essentially made every F look unique to itself. 

ATTN!:  Santa Fe purists may want to close their eyes at this point so as to retain their illusion that the Santa Fe only ran PERFECTLY maintained motive power. 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Now, for those of you brave enough to view this next image, I offer the following picture of such an F unit that plied the rails of the mighty ATSF:

Isn't that GLORIOUS?  Just look at all the mind blowing weathering effects that would be so fun to replicate in miniature.

Yeah, I know: I'm sick, man, sick.

Have fun!

OK, I will not mention CF7's!

laming posted:

Great story Jerry!

Ah, the Sani-Flush!  A classic and classy railroad in every sense of the word.

I have many mental images of the Warbonnet F's from back in my youth years in the KC area.  We used to go over the 18th St Expressway (I think?) on our way to church and other places... there was an overpass hard fast against the Sani-Flush's large engine terminal on the east end of their Argentine facility. Great stuff was down there!  Also saw lots of ATSF freight action all around the KC area.

So yes... some good Warbonnet images reside in me ol' cranium.

HOWEVER...

I may get stoned for what I'm about to say in this Warbonnet thread, but here goes...

I also LOVE the blue "Cigar Band" freight scheme!!  Love it indeed!  How can you get images that scream "Classic F Unit!" more so than images such as this?

 

Is that not some of the coolest F's around?  LOVE all the "gaggle" and "foof" that the Sani-Flush adorned their F's with as they worked their way through their service life.

AND... time for a terrible, terrible confession...

(i like the sani-flush "junk" era)

I can already hear you rabid Sani-Flush fans screaming: "What? WHAT??? STONE HIM! STONE HIM!"

Sacrilege? Absolutely. Blasphemous? Possibly.

But them's the facts, kid, the facts. Toward the end of the F years... the ol' Sani-Flush (as did most of the rairloads) let their F's run out their final miles with minimal maintenance. This made for some VERY interesting weathering effects that essentially made every F look unique to itself. 

ATTN!:  Santa Fe purists may want to close their eyes at this point so as to retain their illusion that the Santa Fe only ran PERFECTLY maintained motive power. 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Now, for those of you brave enough to view this next image, I offer the following picture of such an F unit that plied the rails of the mighty ATSF:

 

Isn't that GLORIOUS?  Just look at all the mind blowing weathering effects that would be so fun to replicate in miniature.

Yeah, I know: I'm sick, man, sick.

Have fun!

I'd much rather see one that looks like this than after the scrapper's torch got it!

Nice images here fella's but please don't  repost a whole string of photos when replying,  especially so close to the original!  If you're trying to point out something illustrated in one photo, it is very easy to delete all but the one you are referring to. Try it sometime.  

Beware the wrath of Marty E as he has been diligently trying to 'ed-u-ma-cate' everyone on this subject for awhile now. Let' GET IT!

Personal experience department:  recall in the mid to late 1960's motoring down Chicago's I55/Stevenson Expressway, which parallels the Santa Fe for a number of miles. Moving briskly on the Santa Fe was one of their passenger trains (Super Chief?) which I paced, all stainless steel, led by 5 war-bonnet F's, glimmering in bright sun. Probably one of the most beautiful railroad visages I ever experienced!  Wonder how many other motorists were equally impressed?

I'm not gonna take the bait.  

RickO posted:

In today's world, we refer to that as a resume generating event...  

Where did this happen?

LAUPT before the Santa Ana Freeway (101) was built.