Nostalgia & History > Santa Fe Fairbanks-Morse A-units only

Westbound past Blue Cut in Cajon Pass back in 1947. What train and where was the B-unit?
Photo is a Tom Gildersleeve duplicate.

Adam

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Are those supposed to be white flags? Or just white sticks? :)

The flags are likely green for a following section. Unless No. 1, the Scout was very late, I think that the train is the Grand Canyon.

Cliff

OH MY!! What a shot. A rare glimpse of a very unique unit, in passenger service, WITH SCENERY. A first for this Santa Fe fan.

Lance

Posted from Android

Here is a photo by Stan Kistler of the only set of F-M A-B-A units numbered as 50 in the indicators.

Was 50 a Train Number ??, or what ??

Jim Baker, Whittier, CA

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ARRRRGH !!! I see now the number is 90 !!

--Jim Baker

mcfflyer Wrote:
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> Are those supposed to be white flags? Or just
> white sticks? :)

It was common to see shredded green flags or just sticks on Eastbound Santa Fe passenger trains at Willow Springs and McCook (IL). Santa Fe must have had a big green flag budget.

TAW

santafe199 Wrote:
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> OH MY!! What a shot. A rare glimpse of a very
> unique unit, in passenger service, WITH SCENERY. A
> first for this Santa Fe fan.
>
> Lance
>

And a first for this one, too. Oh my!! is right, Lance. And more...lots more. Just jaw-droppingly special. Many thanks!

MC
Columbia, Missouri

Latest (Third Quarter) issue of SF Historical and Modeling Scty magazine The Warbonnet has a long piece on ATSF's F-M engines...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Man I bet those things hauled *** really good.

RplusLJetService Wrote:

> Westbound past Blue Cut in Cajon Pass back in
> 1947. What train and where was the B-unit?
> Photo is a Tom Gildersleeve duplicate.

This is probably from his "Early Diesel Scenes on the Santa Fe, Vol. II" set No.189. Tom sent me the data sheet for the set, which identifies the train as the westbound Grand Canyon, no comment on the "flags." The photo was taken by Tom Hotchkiss, collection of Bill Myers.

In 1947, the Eries were in a Barstow-based pool that worked the Grand Canyon among other trains. Alco PA-1's and PB-1's were part of the same pool and could MU with the Eries, so it wasn't that unusual to see just two of the Eries on a train, or Eries mixed with Alcos. The photo below by E.K. Muller from the Western Railway Museum Archives shows 90L and 90B on the Oakland section of the Grand Canyon departing Bakersfield, CA westbound around 1952:



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/14 22:44 by Evan_Werkema.

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JimBaker Wrote:

> Here is a photo by Stan Kistler of the only set of
> F-M A-B-A units numbered as 50 in the
> indicators.

As you noted, it's 90 - Santa Fe didn't put train numbers in locomotive bugboards. This photo was taken at Kaiser, CA on February 6, 1955 when the eastbound "Farewell to Steam" trip with 4-8-4 3759 went in the hole for the westbound Super Chief (the steam train is behind the photographer). Yes, the Super was an unusually prestigious assignment for "Notorious 90" - Stan speculates the Eries were put on at Barstow, perhaps as an emergency substitution with the hope that they couldn't get into too much trouble between there and LA.