Western Railroad Discussion > Savage B36-7's Arrive at Midvale Yard

A pair of former Santa Fe B36-7 units, painted in Savage Transportation Systems dark blue paint arrived at Midvale, Utah this morning. The pair were delivered via Union Pacific's LUE40 local, the "Midvale Tramp". The irony here is that the new Savage Bingham & Garfield Railway will soon replace this very service, on Monday, October 1st.

1. UP 3467, a classic EMD "snoot" dash two curves from the Midvale siding onto the Bingham Branch. The Savage GE's trail the dash two's.

2. After throwing the switch at the tail end of the Bingham Junction wye, the brakeman rides SVGX 3611 toward a former D&RGW industry track at Midvale to spot the GE's.

3. The Midvale Tramp crew spot the Savage Bingham & Garfield Railway power along Utah Railway-BNSF units in the yard.

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Later in the day, I captured this trio of images of the Savage B36-7 units parked at Midvale. The pair arrived here nose to nose, for some reason. The GE "hammerhead" radiator/cooling assemblies appear curved and streamlined compared to the newer, boxier GEVO units. A small storage shed was placed along the yard track giving the SBG a maintenance storage site.

It will be interesting to watch and most importantly to listen to the Savage GE's drag up to 20 cars of steel beams up the steep Bingham Branch grade to SME Industries at Bagley Industrial Park. I'm really looking forward to that, for sure!!!

James

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Nice to see those old beauties restored and back to work. I kinda like the Savage scheme. I see CANAC is part of their corporation...now if only they'd paint their units here in Vegas that color!

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Nice captures James! Those Savage units sure look good!

Good stuff James, thanks for posting these! Man, things sure have changed and continue to change in the Salt Lake Valley. I wish that I could go see all of the changes in person, and maybe someday I can. Meanwhile, I sure do appreciate reading your threads! Thanks again.

Con

Traveled the branch to Copperton and Garfield many times as track supervisor in 1967. I was using a Fairmont AA 2-cylinger opposed of course. The reastuarant at Copperton was good eating. As was one in West Jordon and Midvale itself. . . Joe S.

The wye got screwed up by new road construction and the upper road crossing past the
the west wye is paved over but the branch looks amazingly like it did. Lot of new
construction on both sides but the wide right of way protects it. There's still a
couple DRGW signs around and all in all it's pretty interesting.

If those are the old BCR numbers, then these two were ex-ATSF 7494 and 7495. Here's the 7495 (later BCR 3612) when it was a Santa Fe locomotive.

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these engines, both the u-boats and the oddballs, were at the Burlington Junction Railway last week and i believe they were painted in Burlington Ia. Just in case you didnt know, they when they arrived they were in BC Rail's All navy blue scheme. I think they were the same number. I was wondering what happened to them! If I'm wrong e-mail me at lincoln_noah@hotmail.com

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> If those are the old BCR numbers, then these two
> were ex-ATSF 7494 and 7495. Here's the 7495
> (later BCR 3612) when it was a Santa Fe
> locomotive.

Fantastic info and photo, Evan. Thank you for posting!

James

Yuh know Evan, that picture just screams for "sound slides". Boats with "old"
arrestor/mufflers were hair on the back of the neck to listen to.

rehunn Wrote:

> Yuh know Evan, that picture just screams for
> "sound slides". Boats with "old"
> arrestor/mufflers were hair on the back of the
> neck to listen to.

Indeed, but Santa Fe's B36-7's were just a tad too late for that. Built in 1980, just after new EPA noise regulations went into effect, they had the fat silencer stack and sound baffles in front of the radiator intakes. By 1986, the 7495 had lost its baffles.

Very true, the B23's from only a few years earlier were way louder than the B36's when
new. Course the railroad never seemed to replace the baffles once they "vanished".

I Wrote:

> By 1986, the 7495 had lost its baffles.

I take that back. Looking closer, 7495's baffles are still there, suspended above and below the handrail near the rear of the unit. It's just hard to see them against the blue hood of the second unit. The 7495 did eventually lose its baffles of course, just not by June 1986.

rehunn Wrote:

> Very true, the B23's from only a few years earlier
> were way louder than the B36's when
> new. Course the railroad never seemed to replace
> the baffles once they "vanished".

They disappeared from both Santa Fe's and SP's B36's about the same time, and subsequent new deliveries of Dash 7's lacked them (later orders of B23's), so my guess is they were no longer needed.