Nostalgia & History > WAG Wednesday: SFe 347C on a very important date!

Back in the fall of 1973 railfanning was way outside my sphere of attention. I was newly graduated from Manhattan (Kansas) High School and had a steady girlfriend whom I would eventually marry in 1975 (& divorce in 1982). So my hormonal activity didn’t show any inclination at all toward appreciating the curves of the standard EMD F-unit cab. This said activity did however have a train load of inclination toward appreciating the curves of a certain blonde named Cheryl, who was then a Junior at Manhattan High. On the 6th of September in 1973 I, along with a small army of mutual friends pulled off the most perfect surprise birthday party I was ever involved in. It went off without a hitch. It was Cheryl’s 16th birthday, and it was a perfect day. One I will never forget. So on September 6, 1973 one could say I was totally devoted toward all of the activities any courting young man should be involved in.

On that very same day a gentleman I wouldn’t meet for another 5 years was making his usual rounds in Topeka, just an hour away. He had a camera around his neck and would be burning some Kodachrome film on the curves of an EMD F-unit. This was a Santa Fe F-7 that, along with a B-unit mate would ultimately become pretty famous. At first this cabbed F-unit would be spared the major surgery it took to produce a CF-7, being saved by the company for historical purposes. Later, the A-B pair would make their way to California and be eventually dressed in that world famous Red & Silver passenger Warbonnet paint scheme.

44 years later I would take the two slides the man in Topeka shot and write up a unique story about the pending future intersection of the paths of two Kansas railfans a generation and-a-half apart. This being volunteered it’s only fitting that I should posthumously thank that man for paying attention to those classic EMD curves while I was too busy with curves of a whole different species. So thank you Bill, for taking care of the ‘light work’! (While I was busy with the curves of…… well… never mind… ;^)

1. & 2. Two views of AT&SF 347C in Topeka, KS on September 6, 1973.
Photos by William A. Gibson (WAG) Sr.

Happy birthday, Cheryl (again)!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/22 05:03 by santafe199.

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1973? 1973?!!!. Today is the day that Dr. Hook and the medicine show got their picture on the Cover of the Rolling Stone!!! Happy Anniversary, Birthday, Divorce day, whatever tunes your piano today. Wow, congrats Sir L! And may the Wooden Shoes of Teutopolis be with you!!

Nice story.  (You had a Cheryl too, eh?)  And I remember seeing the 347C in the roundhouse in Albuquerque before it came to California. 

And thanks for all of your posts.  This is what make Trainorders worth it, and so interesting every day!

Lee Hower - Sacramento

Sorry; got sidetracked. Thanks Cheryl, Sir L, and Art for all the enjoyable, informative threads to appreciate and enjoy on Trainorders. What a ride.

IC1038west Wrote: > ...  Sorry; got sidetracked ...
(chuckling) That's perfectly OK with me. Cheryl & I parted absolute friends, so much so that I never even had a lawyer. She remains to this day one of the finest human beings I've ever known...

Lance

I wonder who had more fun that day....

WrongMain Wrote: > ... who had more fun that day....

Heh heh heh...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/17 11:13 by santafe199.

So who was lucker that day, the OP or the photog who's work is featured here?  Well, nice photo's of that yellow bonnet.  I remember seeing photo's in the mid-1980's in PRN or CTC mag (can't remember which) showing a heritage train of old ATSF power being moved and it included a yellow bonnet F7AB set in tow.  Were those units the ones that ultimately went to the Sacramento RR Museum and re-painted in red/silver?

Cheers, Jim Fitch

yes
347C and a B  were the chosen ones

Looks like a very horny F unit...........