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Steam & Excursion > ATSF 3461 tender decoration


Date: 01/20/25 07:33
ATSF 3461 tender decoration
Author: WrongWayMurphy

i dont recall seeing this giant Santa Fe logo on other ATSF steam tenders.

What's the deal with this one ?

Notation says Baldwin 1937, taken at Chillicothe, ILL 11-1941.
Photographer not noted.




Date: 01/20/25 08:30
Re: ATSF 3461 tender decoration
Author: ExStarlightHog

I guess the guys at the paint shop felt ambitious the day this one was done. 



Date: 01/20/25 09:40
Re: ATSF 3461 tender decoration
Author: ATSFSuperCap

It was an attempt to advertise the RY,  alongside the Warbonnet diesels on primere passenger trains.    There were a number of passenger locos with these large heralds.   On the 20K tender as here they used two one on each side of the number.   On locos with the older/smaller style 15K tenders they only used one.     This also took the place of the large  S A N T A   F E   lettering on the tenders.    They quickly switched back to the standard lettering.



Date: 01/20/25 18:48
Re: ATSF 3461 tender decoration
Author: coach

Geez, look at the size of those drivers!!  Looks like a fast engine!



Date: 01/20/25 19:38
Re: ATSF 3461 tender decoration
Author: Evan_Werkema

ATSFSuperCap Wrote:

> It was an attempt to advertise the RY,  alongside the Warbonnet diesels on primere passenger
> trains.    There were a number of passenger locos with these large heralds. 

Only three locomotives are known to have gotten large heralds on their tenders in 1940: 4-6-2 #3420 and 4-6-4's 3452 and 3461. 

3420: https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2295355/ , https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/k99uih/santa_fe_chief_headed_by_3420_eastbound_at/?rdt=53757

3452: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,5513823

3461: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,5673059

> This also took the place of the large  S A N T A   F E   lettering on the tenders.    They quickly switched back to the standard lettering.

While official documentation is lacking, Gordon Bassett's article on the subject in the November/December 1981 Santa Fe Modeler claims based on photo evidence that the billboard SANTA FE on larger tenders was introduced more or less concurrently with the large emblem concept in 1940, and that the railroad ultimately opted to make billboard lettering the standard.  Prior to 1940, Santa Fe got quite a few locomotives with big rectangular tenders that only had the road number on the side.  John W. Barriger III photographed some of the 1938-built Santa Fe 3765-class 4-8-4's early in their careers:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12352846784
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12352510293

And the Kansas State Historical Soceity has some photos of 1938-built 2-10-4's from the 5001-class taken in 1938 and 1939:

https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/221184/page/1
https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/227663/page/1

By contrast, the 3776-class 4-8-4's of 1941 came from Baldwin with the billboard lettering (but not the road number) already on the tenders:

https://picryl.com/media/atchison-topeka-and-santa-fe-railway-atandsf-lok-3780-145d4a

coach Wrote:

> Geez, look at the size of those drivers!! 

84-inches. 

By the way, two years before getting the experimental large emblem scheme, 4-6-4 #3461 was also the guinea pig for an experimental skyline casing, which the railroad thankfully also abandoned:

https://digital.denverlibrary.org/nodes/view/1096641



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