Steam & Excursion > AFT Confidential 16- Ft Worth TX

16 Ft Worth Feb 26-28

Houston to Ft Worth was a nice full day of running, the longest of the 610's 4 AFT moves. At the service stop in Temple TX I got a chance for a few photos.
When we reached Ft Worth we took our turn passing Tower 55, a place famous enough even I'd heard of it before- and Texas was never really on my radar.
The Ft Worth site was on the Federal Supply Depot Base south of downtown. We displayed at military bases fairly often and they were always kind of boring and far from town. But the stop quickly became memorable: Santa Fe invited Doyle & Co down to Cleburne Shops for a look at the 2925.

ATSF had brought 2925 up from storage in Belen NM to assess it's condition with the idea of a restoration. Well, the 2925 was in VERY good condition (Doyle's opinion, not mine- what do I know?!). Apparently what sunk the project was a serious lack of (ATSF owned) cars to pull, and the cost of assembling a suitable fleet may well have exceeded the cost of restoring the locomotive. No tail for the dog to wag!
At this time the CF-7 project was in full swing (converting F units into “GP's” of a sort) and we were given the full tour. There were F's lined up for the slaughter by the dozens- silk purses to sow's ears. Oh, the humanity!
SR Bush
Dutch Flat

Photos 1&2. Water stop in Temple TX
Photos 3&4. Maybe someone who knows the route can identify this location. At the bridge we left the scrum of chasers in (their) dust.

Photo 5. These guys startled us! They came up alongside pacing us at very close range. I shot this from the crew car.
Photo 6. At famous Tower 55 .16 Ft Worth Feb 26-28

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Photos 7&8. The 4449 & 610 at Ft Worth.
Photo 9. I don't remember why the crew assembled for this portrait, but I “bombed” it. L to R in front: Tom Nosera and Andy Adams. Standing: Russ Shipman, Doyle McCormack, Craig Thomas, Al Phillips, and Myself.
Sadly, both Russ & Tom have passed away since the AFT tour.

Photos 10&11. The 2925 at Cleburne Shops.
Photos 12&13. F's lined up for slaughter.
339L became the 2470, finished about a year later. (note 2470 stenciled on the pilot bumper) In the next photo: 254C became 2450, and 333L became 2443.
A moment of Silence is probably in order...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/21 17:51 by BoilingMan.

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Interesting picture of Santa Fe F unit 339 show the giant lower headlight sort of unique to Santa Fe F's. Of course many roads had F's
with lower headlights but it seems the Santa Fe F's with larger. Also interesting to note that looks like this unit was to become CF7 2470.

Regards, Jim Evans

In the crew picture, is that Al Phillips or Ron Swanson??

Posted from iPhone

Definitely Al Phillips. The crew shown was the crew for the 4449 pretty much the entire year (1976) I was with the AFT. The only real changes that year: Russ Sperry (volunteer) left the crew in Texas and Russ Shipman left in Alabama when the 2101 took over (that is- he didn’t return when the ‘49 came back on in Washington DC). Other than that there weren’t any permanent changes.
SR

Doyle had friends like Jack (our own Hotwater) who would come along for short stays now and then, and Steve (our Stevo_W) was a volunteer for 2-3wks in So Carolina & Georgia.

Oh I know full well who Al Phillips is. But in that picture he sure looks like Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation.

Posted from iPhone

Oh.
I have no idea who that is. Does he drive a Corvair wagon?
SR

The bridge you mention and show is over the Brazos River and the beginnings of Lake Whitney.

Are both photos of the same bridge?
SR

I’ll note it on the slides, thanks!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/21 17:47 by BoilingMan.

Where is the 2925 now ?  That is a Beast !

In Sacramento at California State RR Museum
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> Photo 9. I don't remember why the crew assembled
> for this portrait, but I “bombed” it. L to R
> in front: Tom Nosera and Andy Adams. Standing:
> Russ Shipman, Doyle McCormack, Craig Thomas, Al
> Phillips, and Myself.
> Sadly, both Russ & Tom have passed away since the
> AFT tour.

Lol look at them. Where's Bobby? Was he taking the picture?

Oh, right- Bobby Slover. I don’t know for sure that he took the photo, but odds are he did.
Bob had the distinction of having crewed on all 3 AFT locomotives. When the 2101 took over that Summer in Alabama, Bob simply joined Ross’s crew. The rest took a break, except Craig Thomas who stepped over to AFT Security until the ‘49 returned.
SR