Nostalgia & History > ATSF 204 "you wear it well"

Probably the most illusive class of Santa Fe warbonnet-painted locomotives for me were the 51 SD75M's delivered in 1995. These unique EMD's have the distinction of being the last new engines delivered to the ATSF and wore the red and silver scheme very well. Days before the BNSF merger in September of 1995, I did manage to catch the Santa Fe 204 at Stein's Hill in Cajon Pass with a westbound Dago train(I think). After recently being stored, happily most of these units are once again back to work on the BNSF.

Thanks for taking a look,

OYW

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Great image, Bob. Those SD75's sure did look classy in the red & silver.

Ryan

I wonder if the AT&SF 250 (now BNSF 8251) should have the loco preserved for one of the "BIG" museums. This is a very important historical locomotive. wag216

wag216 Wrote:

> I wonder if the AT&SF 250 (now BNSF 8251) should
> have the loco preserved for one of the "BIG"
> museums.

ATSF 250 is now BNSF 8250. The 8251 was the first BNSF-lettered SD75M.

I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know when I say that only a small portion of the stuff that should be saved gets saved, especially when it comes to big road locomotives. Of the stuff that gets saved, only a small portion gets "preserved." Thinking about the last new Santa Fe locomotive makes me remember a thread from a few days ago about the last new Wabash locomotive, GP35 547. It managed to get saved, but sat unrestored at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis for years. It was finally deaccessioned and sold in 2009. Assuming I identified the locomotive in that thread correctly, 547 has now found its way to Mid America Car and is wearing a new coat of red paint. It will likely survive a while longer, but probably not as Wabash 547 preserved in a museum.

I'd like to see ATSF 250 get preserved, along with several other Santa Fe artifacts that are in far greater peril of destruction. Trouble is, I don't have the finances myself to ensure the proper care of any of them, and all of the railroad museums in my area are already packed to the gills with other worthy, historic items in need of funds and hands. I guess what we need to figure out once we've decided that ATSF 250 should be saved is 1) which museum will accept and care for it and 2) how we are going to fund its restoration, shelter, and upkeep. And while we're thinking about #2 for 250, we should come up with a similar strategy for the six preserved FP45's. #1 is already taken care of for them, but a decade after they were donated, at least four of the six spend all their days out in the elements, and are wearing badly weathered paint that was applied by the Santa Fe over 20 years ago.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> And while we're thinking about #2 for 250,
> we should come up with a similar strategy for the
> six preserved FP45's. #1 is already taken care of
> for them, but a decade after they were donated, at
> least four of the six spend all their days out in
> the elements, and are wearing badly weathered
> paint that was applied by the Santa Fe over 20
> years ago.

Unfortunately, time always wins.