Railroaders' Nostalgia > A-B-B consist Texas Style!

You Santa Fe fans from Texas will have to pardon me for my show of delight with this image. I know you boys saw consists similar to this one on a mind-numbingly regular basis in the 1970s. With Cleburne being ‘ground zero’ for converting Santa Fe’s sizable fleet of carbody Fs into CF-7s it naturally follows that carbody B-units would hang around and populate the same area in large numbers.

But by 1978 a scene like this was becoming pretty rare in the Land of OZ. I was remiss in recording the train number here, but judging by the consist and the time of day it’s probably Emporia ~ Atchison/St Joseph local train 1292. There’s a fleeting chance this could be a 403 or an SKE make-up train out of Sand Creek (Newton) now making the next leg into Argentine. A couple of days ago TO member “gcm” posted a thread with a nearly identical theme to this one (here’s a link: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4035341 ). Gary posted a really cool series of shots at Cleburne. It was a montage of 3 hooded units with a pair of F-unit Bs cut in trailing, leading a train out of town. I have my own personal nick-name for such a sight: “Texas Consist”. I give you my reasoning in the following paragraphs.

In 1979 the Middle Division seniority district #1 engine service roster was more or less invaded by one of the most truly remarkable characters I ever worked with in 32 total years of train service. This would be the one & only Willis E. Olson who came from down Texas way (y’all)! I can’t remember if he arrived via a seniority swap, or if he just plain hired on at the bottom of the engine service roster in a personal transfer move. Willis is retired now, and I believe he is living somewhere in eastern Kansas, possibly Eudora. (Help me out here, Dennis!) I first met him in October of 1979 while working the Amtrak flagman’s job on the short-lived, post-Lone Star stub service south out of Newton, KS. I believe he was firing for my engineer Jack Haggard, another character who held one of the regular engineer jobs on trains #15 & #16 for quite a while.

When I first saw Willis he immediately reminded me of the character Newly O’Brien on the famed TV series Gunsmoke. Being tall (6’3”?) with dark eyes and a shock of black hair was all it took. Willis had that boisterous good ol’ boy manner down pat. And if he liked you it was a firm slap on the back and a cement-grip hand shake that would leave your hand with a slight tingle in it. His personality was such a force it made me remember the few occasional working trips with him in the years after our initial Amtrak meeting.

I got into the habit of recording in my timebooks the names of all the conductors & engineers I ever worked with. Unfortunately I failed to record all the firemen & fellow brakemen/switchmen I ever worked with. I remember working a Wellington hotshot with Willis one day. I’m pretty sure he was working the train as a fireman because I can’t find his name on any Wellington trip that fits the following scenario. During that layover Willis & I were in some beanery for a bite to eat. Not knowing each other very well our conversation naturally centered on railroading. We had the usual power on the ride down to Wellington: all front-line, high horse, 6-axle road power. He was exclaiming how he quickly got spoiled, shortly after arriving on the Middle Division. He thought it was a great luxury to have such power on a mainline train. I was used to seeing such power from even before I hired out, so I asked him to explain. With the faintest hint of exaggeration he informed me that regular mainline power down in Texas was a hood unit with an F-7B. As an alternative you might get a pair of CF-7s or other such hooded geeps. But you were rolling in great luxury if your train drew BIG mainline power that consisted of a whopping *3* (count ‘em: T-h-r-e-e) such units!

So with tongue firmly in cheek I bid you: Enjoy this late 1978 example of BIG mainline Santa Fe power, Texas Style…

1. AT&SF 2908 leads 2 unknown carbody B-units out of the eastbound yard in Emporia, KS on December 20, 1978.

Thanks for listening!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/16 14:34 by santafe199.

---

Lance:  the Texas lines always seemed to get the power down graded from the trans-con route.  It was even that way during steam days.  We had a lotta junk running around here while you could go to Amarillo and see Santa Fe's finest going east and west.

Yep, the railroad is full of many pleasing characters and events as your story indicates.  And nice consists in the past as this shot shows.  Hard to think that someday a dash 9 or c44 will be the older generation of power to oggle over.  Great photo capture.
Brian Stevens

A long time ago, on TO, somebody posted a link to an ex Santa Fe rail who had posted pictures of Santa Fe power from his assignmernts around Texas. I found that link last weekend cleaning up my system. The pictures are all from the 70's & 80's around central Texas and feature those mixed power consists. Going through the pictures is quite a trip.

https://drgrabowphotos.shutterfly.com/471#1394

RickL

Great site. I remember in '80 traveling through TX and being very dissapointed to catch a train south of Sweetwater with a pair of 45's!
JB

Thanks for posting, nice shot. By the time I started shooting in 1973, all of that power was gone from CA.

Jim B

LANCE:
My comments are brief.
First, I really like your photo super much.
Second, I always wonder why Santa Fe did not rebuild the Bs.
ALLEN 

They did not rebuild the B units because they lacked the engineer controls that were put in the CF-7 from the F's A units.

Here ya ago Lance, a photo of Willis shortly before he retired. He does live just south of Eudora, about a mile east of me. I see him once in a while, and we visit sometimes on the phone. He is 75 now, but you could never tell it. He's also Mark Shumates brother-in-law. In the 70's. he farmed out around Clements, but wasn't making it. He knew someone down in Texas that got him a job braking down there someplace. Later he went Firing, and got promoted, then he transferred up to Emporia and worked the Middle Div. He came in right behind me and a couple of others in seniority.

---

When I came to Texas I heard Willis's name bounced around a time or two down here.  Of course once you know him you're not likely to forget him.  Dennis, the next time you communicate with him give him my regards.  Thanks
     Mark

ddg Wrote: > ... a photo of Willis shortly before he retired...
Thanks Dennis! I'll add this to the "file". I'll have to look him up some time soon. You too, of course...