Nostalgia & History > WAG Wednesday: Freight Bonnets need love, too!

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder & love is where you find it. I’ve always liked Santa Fe’s U-28CG units. If these 2 units were in Uncle John’s standard dark blue-trimmed in yellow nobody would look twice at them. But Red & Silver always seems to command the attention. Who cares if the solid black trucks are dirty, and the fuel tanks have spillage. These future freight engines are still wearing the proud headdress & tribal colors. And they carry the family name in big red letters on their sides.

Beauty is where you find it & love is beholdin’. If you don’t particularly love these unique engines I’ll pick up the burden for you. And I won’t even charge ya nuthin’… ;^)

1. AT&SF 353 & 356 lead train #15, the “Texas Chief” at Ft Worth, TX on October 24, 1966.
Photo by William A. Gibson (WAG) Sr.

Thanks for the love!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/22 03:01 by santafe199.

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Amen!

Love that shot!  That's my train.

Randy Lundgren

i first became familiar with the U28CGs when i bought my first diesel spotters guide in '68 ... i liked the units ... where was steam generator on these and the 30CG units ??? ...

Out_Of_Service Wrote: < ...where was steam generator on these and the 30CG units...

That's a good question. I believe the steam generators were long removed by time I hired out in 1978. I never set foot on board a 30CG, and only rode in a 28CG maybe twice(??). But I'll take a stab and say right behind the cab?? With all of the "stuff" on the roof right behind the cab that seems like a logical place...

Lance/199

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i first became familiar with the U28CGs when i
> bought my first diesel spotters guide in '68 ... i
> liked the units ... where was steam generator on
> these and the 30CG units ??? ...

Right behing the cab, The GE U series where designed with sg space built in to them.

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Out_Of_Service Wrote: < ...where was steam
> generator on these and the 30CG units...
>
> That's a good question. I believe the steam
> generators were long removed by time I hired out
> in 1978. I never set foot on board a 30CG, and
> only rode in a 28CG maybe twice(??). But I'll take
> a stab and say right behind the cab?? With all of
> the "stuff" on the roof right behind the cab that
> seems like a logical place...
>
> Lance/199

You are correct. Directly behind the cab. I believe NdeM also ordered steam generator equipped GE's.
On Santa Fe, the U30CG's derailed on several occasions with a passenger train, prompting Santa Fe to remove them from passenger service. I think the U28CG's were also removed about the same time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/15 09:17 by ATSF3751.

Can you imagine starting a passenger train out of the station with these garbage scows!  Their throttle response was so lethargic it would be like driving a Chevy Surburban with a two-cylinder motor.  They were fine once they got up to speed but boy did it take a l o n g time while they loaded to get there.  We had two of these once on the old Big Lift local and it took forever to get our switching finished.  They were still a lot of fun to be on knowing that I was working on a piece of railroad history in real time.  The paint in the rear view mirrors was chipped off, and under the yellow you could see the old red that had been painted over.

The problem with the 400 class in passenger service was being two units, or more, and the curves was not happy. However, after being removed from normal passenger service, the trains #211 and #212  were used by single 400s for a long time and they seemed to work fine! wag216
P.S. check this with Evan.














3211

Just gosh awful ugly to me.  Maybe because they did not have the black and yellow edging of the red.

What a gem. Rode behind three of these in December of 1969 on ATSF #16.
Even with 19 cars, they pulled us @ 90-95 mph . It was a fine show up front in the Big Dome Lounge ! --Kelly

wag216 Wrote:

> The problem with the 400 class in passenger
> service was being two units, or more, and the
> curves was not happy. However, after being removed
> from normal passenger service, the trains #211
> and #212  were used by single 400s for a long
> time and they seemed to work fine! wag216
> P.S. check this with Evan.

The wreck of Tr.23 near Chillicothe, IL on February 9, 1969 led to the U-boats being removed from passenger service for a time.  However, pages 121 and 122 of Steve Goen's Santa Fe in the Lone Star State have photos of U28CG's on passenger trains in Texas in September 1969, with the comment that after seven months of testing, the big GE's had been exonerated. Photos exist showing U30CG's on the Tulsan in 1970 wearing their new 8000-series numbers:

Santa Fe Through Passenger Service in Color V.2 p.79-81, 8001 leading the eastbound Tulsan at Kansas City, MO, June 1970
Santa Fe 1940-1971 in Color V.1 p.26, 8004 at Kansas City, MO, 4/21/70 (the caption says Chicago, but that sure ain't Dearborn's trainshed).

Our own mopacrr has photos of 4-digit-numbered U28's and U30's at Newton in 1970 on the point of the Super Chief, a train they almost never powered in the late 60's when they still had their original 3-digit numbers:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3154332

The U28CG's as-delivered scheme modeled by 353 and 356, with red pilots and front handrails plus black trucks, was short-lived due wrecks of another kind.  The Santa Fe Railway Diesel Locomotive Painting and Lettering Guide for Model Railroaders p.77 relates that the 10 brand-new U28CG's were involved in 8 grade crossing accidents in the final five months of 1966.  This led the railroad to try to "brighten" the fronts of the units with silver pilots and trucks plus yellow handrails beginning in early 1967:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2897100

The U28CG's other claim to infamy was that they gave every two-bit toy train maker an excuse to slap red and silver with billboard lettering on any old hood unit model in their inventory - GP20's, U36B's , high hood GP50's, high hood C630's fer crying out loud!

What? You saying that SF high hood C630s never ran on passenger trains?

Out

Thank you, Evan! wag216

Division Point is doing these in brass. I can hardly wait!

Brian Ehni