Western Railroad Discussion > Santa Fe Locomotive Obscurity

Remember in 1988-1989 when the AT&SF decided to "soup up" some of their B23-7s by upgrading some of their components? The idea was to get more "bang for their buck" out of the small GE's without having to go through something as extensive as the SF30B rebuild.

GE, though, balked at continuing to maintain the modified units, and Santa Fe soon returned the units to their original specs.

The modified units from the 6350-6418 class were given 7201-series numbers, following the SF30B (a rebuilt U23B) which at the time was numbered 7200. When Santa Fe returned the units to specs, they were RE-renumbered back to their original numbers! Correct me if I'm wrong, but hadn't Santa Fe used the 7200-series numbers a couple times before as a temporary number series?

I saw at least three of the 7200-series units on a trip to NM / AZ / CA in the summer of 1989. Shown below is the 7209 as a trailing unit on a westbound on Cajon.

Anyone have shots of them leading?

WSC

---

Yes, they did upgrade several to 3000HP. & yes they are supposed to have de-rated them back to 2250. However, I've been on a lot of these (not lately) that clearly loaded at least 30% higher than they should have for 2250. (An awful lot like a B-30)

WhiskeySCharlie wrote:

> The modified units from the 6350-6418 class
> were given 7201-series numbers, following the
> SF30B (a rebuilt U23B) which at the time was
> numbered 7200. When Santa Fe returned the
> units to specs, they were RE-renumbered back to
> their original numbers! Correct me if I'm
> wrong, but hadn't Santa Fe used the 7200-series
> numbers a couple times before as a temporary
> number series?

Nothing stayed very long in the Santa Fe
7200-series. Steam engines never occupied that
series, and diesels had been on the property
almost 50 years before some of them finally fell
into the 7200's.

When Santa Fe standardized its diesel numbering
scheme in 1969/70, the numbers from 6000-7499
were generally reserved for 4-axle GE classes.
Naturally, then, the first units to occupy the
7200's were rebuilt SD45-2's in 1986. Southern
Pacific and Santa Fe had already devised a number
scheme for their proposed merger, and those were
the numbers chosen for the post-merger SD45-2's.
When the ICC rejected the SPSF merger, Santa Fe
renumbered the 45-2's into a series that better
fit the pre-merger ATSF numbering plan, the
5800's (6-axle EMD's generally occupied numbers
in the 4000-5999 range).

The SF30B and souped-up B23-7's were the
next to occupy the 7200's, and they didn't
stay long either. The B23-7's, and eventually
even the SF30B, were derated back to 2250hp and
numbered back into the 6300 and 6400-series.

> I saw at least three of the 7200-series units
> on a trip to NM / AZ / CA in the summer of
> 1989. Shown below is the 7209 as a
> trailing unit on a westbound on Cajon.

Another bit of obscure trivia: this 3000hp
upgrade/renumber program took place in 1988, at
a time when Santa Fe was repainting any SPSF
units it could find back to blue and yellow.
A couple of red and yellow B23's did get
repainted when they were renumbered, but #6373
managed to become 3000hp #7207 AND revert back
to 6373 while retaining its red and yellow
paint! There's a picture of red and yellow 7207
in Cinthia Priest's _Santa Fe Diesel Vol.2_.
So far as I know, 7207 is the only number that
was occupied by two different SPSF painted units
(an SD45-2 in 1986, and a B23-7 in 1988-89).

WSC,

You are correct. Santa Fe also assigned SD45-2's
into the 7200-series.

If interested, the SF30B now has its own site on the Web:

http://www.QStation.org/SF30B/

-QStation
http://www.QStation.org



WhiskeySCharlie wrote:

> Remember in 1988-1989 when the AT&SF decided to "soup up"
> some of their B23-7s by upgrading some of their components?
> The idea was to get more "bang for their buck" out of the small
> GE's without having to go through something as extensive as the
> SF30B rebuild.
>
> GE, though, balked at continuing to maintain the modified
> units, and Santa Fe soon returned the units to their original
> specs.
>
> The modified units from the 6350-6418 class were given
> 7201-series numbers, following the SF30B (a rebuilt U23B) which
> at the time was numbered 7200. When Santa Fe returned the
> units to specs, they were RE-renumbered back to their original
> numbers! Correct me if I'm wrong, but hadn't Santa Fe used
> the 7200-series numbers a couple times before as a temporary
> number series?
>
> I saw at least three of the 7200-series units on a trip to NM
> / AZ / CA in the summer of 1989. Shown below is the 7209 as a
> trailing unit on a westbound on Cajon.
>
> Anyone have shots of them leading?
>
> WSC
>
> [%sig%]

Evan, interesting information. I never knew that any of the upgraded B-Boats carried 7200-series numbers while also wearing the Kodachrome scheme. Would love to see a shot of THAT. Also, all the ones I saw re-numbered to the 7200-class had B-type trucks, but I believe the 6373 had FB-type trucks. Wonder if any other FB-trucked units were done. Do you have a list of the upgraded units?

(Yes I am aware that the SF30B originally rode on B-type trucks but received FB-type trucks some time after it was renumbered to 6419)

WSC

WhiskeySCharlie wrote:

> Also, all the ones I saw re-numbered to the
> 7200-class had B-type trucks, but I believe the
> 6373 had FB-type trucks. Wonder if any other
> FB-trucked units were done. Do you have a
> list of the upgraded units?

Gene Crossett's roster site lists the 7200's
and the 6300's they came from:

http://rosters.gcrossett.com/atsf/pwr7000.htm

7201 = 6366
7202 = 6367
7203 = 6368
7204 = 6369
7205 = 6370
7206 = 6372
7207 = 6373
7208 = 6374
7209 = 6375
7210 = 6376
7211 = 6377
7212 = 6378
7213 = 6379
7214 = 6389
7215 = 6393
7216 = 6395

So the 7200's up to 7207, plus 7215 and 7216,
should be FB-2-equipped. My one and only shot
of a 7200 was of 7204 at Belen:

---