Nostalgia & History > Santa Fe F7 #335 on the "Cane Belt" branch -- June 76

Quite a change for ex-passenger unit #335 from the Super Chief, Texas Chief etc. to this weed spraying train on a branch line in Texas.
Southbound on the long abandoned Santa Fe Cane Belt branch near Glen Flora. This line came off the ATSF at Sealy and went to Matagorda.
Nicknamed the Cane Belt because of the sugar cane that was grown near the line when it was built in the late 1800's.
I like the wooden crossbuck -- of the thousands that used to be in Texas - I guess very few have survived.

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Wasn't the predecessor road that built the line called the Cane Belt? A handful of Santa Fe steamers (4-4-0's and 2-6-0's) were listed as former Cane Belt.

You are right. Here is a site with the history -- http://www.eaglelakedepot.com/CaneBeltHistory.htm

gcm Wrote:
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> Quite a change for ex-passenger unit #335 from the
> Super Chief, Texas Chief etc. to this weed
> spraying train on a branch line in Texas.
> Southbound on the long abandoned Santa Fe Cane
> Belt branch near Glen Flora. This line came off
> the ATSF at Sealy and went to Matagorda.
> Nicknamed the Cane Belt because of the sugar cane
> that was grown near the line when it was built in
> the late 1800's.
> I like the wooden crossbuck -- of the thousands
> that used to be in Texas - I guess very few have
> survived.

Thank you...I think that's one of the more unusual diesel images to be shown on this site. Quite a prize as far as I'm
concerned.

Tom

What became of #335? Was it rebuilt into a CF7?

Was delivered as the 316L (L=Lead), renumbered in '52 to the 335L, and later rebuilt into CF-7 2424.

Thanks once again to Gene Crossett's EXCELLENT Santa Fe Diesel Roster website: http://rosters.gcrossett.com/atsf/index.htm

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

My in-laws live in Bay City, and I have grown very familiar with this branch, or what is left of it. Exactly where was that photo taken? And when did they stop running trains down from Sealy and using MP/UP trackage rights to get to Bay City?

Great pic!  Good to see F7 #335 "raising cane" by killing weeds...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/16 07:58 by octrax.

Lo how the mighty have fallen!
It's like seeing a race horse pulling a junk-collector's wagon.

BlackWidow Wrote:
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> My in-laws live in Bay City, and I have grown very
> familiar with this branch, or what is left of it.
> Exactly where was that photo taken? And when did
> they stop running trains down from Sealy and using
> MP/UP trackage rights to get to Bay City?

Not sure when they stopped running from Sealy, but the BNSF still has trackage rights from Algoa to get to their orphaned trackage in Bay City.