Nostalgia & History > Toto Tuesday: 1st generation curtain call

In 1978 Uncle John Santa Fe still had a lot of 1st generation EMD power running around. As evidenced by the CF-7 up front there were rebuilding programs underway. But one could still find pure GP-7s & GP-9s in many places here and there.

Here’s a slide I scanned & posted 5 years ago, redone with much better scanning and photo-editing capability now available to me. I didn’t record the engine consist back then, but just by observation there are a couple of high-nosed geeps (GP-7s, probably) here mixed in with the omnipresent CF-7s. But the pretty sunset in this composition might as well be a symbolic curtain call for these tired old geeps that are older than I am…

1. AT&SF 2476 is pointing train 403 A-1 in the eastbound yard at Emporia, KS. This train has just finished an air test after some cut & fill work, and is ready to roll eastward to Argentine.
Photo date: December 3, 1978

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/22 20:50 by santafe199.

---

That's a beauty Lance! 

OutStanding

Posted from iPhone

That's really nice Lance.

Marty

SWEET!!

santafe199 Wrote:

> Here’s a slide I scanned & posted 5 years ago,
> redone with much better scanning and photo-editing
> capability now available to me. I didn’t record
> the engine consist back then, but just by
> observation there are a couple of high-nosed geeps
> (GP-7s, probably) here mixed in with the
> omnipresent CF-7s.

Good job!  I like how you used the yard light for a glint effect down the side of the power while carefully positioning the light itself behind that pole so it isn't too overpowering.  Looking down the string beyond CF7 2496, we appear to have a GP9 (one battery box louver), three GP7's (three battery box louvers, and all Santa Fe GP9's had dynamic brakes so they can't be 9's)...but the most surprising thing are what appear to be a pair of GE U23B's at the very end.  Santa Fe tended not to mix first and second generation power in the same consist unless one or the other was dead-in-transit, which might well be the case with those U-boats, rolling eastward toward the shop at Argentine. 

Evan_Werkema Wrote: > ...while carefully positioning the light itself behind that pole...
A very astute observation! Very often, when placing a tripod for shooting at night I tried to do exactly that whenever possible.

> most surprising ... a pair of GE U23B's at the very end...
As I recall oddball consists like this were more common that you might think. We would regularly see DIC power headed for Argentine on whatever train was available...

Lance/199

I bet that 403 came out of Dodge City about midnight before getting to Emporia about sundown.

Posted from Android

Great photo Lance!
TC

Like that shot, Lance!

Randy Lundgren