Nostalgia & History > mundo: Some Santa Fe zebras

Ed Von Nordeck, TO user mundo, took the following photos of Santa Fe hood units and switchers wearing the zebra stripe scheme in the early 1950's:

1. A pair of GP7's at Corona, CA with the horns hanging off the sides of the hoods instead of perched atop them.

2. An H16-44 in as-delivered condition in 1951. Santa Fe had 20 of these, and the first ten were assigned to the Los Angeles Division until 1956, when they went east to join the other 10 in Kansas. EMD's Dick Dilworth claimed he intended the GP7 to be "ugly;" by contrast, these FM's had Raymond Loewy's styling touches and were about as shapely as you could find in a hood unit.

3. One of only four SC's on the Santa Fe switches at the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal as a tiger lurks nearby. I was surprised to see a Santa Fe SC working that far west, but locomotive assignment sheets from 1950 through 1956 show the 651 (ex-2151) assigned to the Los Angeles Division. The other members of the class were widely dispersed: in 1956, 650 was on the Eastern Division, 652 on the Gulf Division, and 653 on the Middle Division.

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OUTSTANDING, my favorite scheme for the Santa Fe switchers and hood units. I glad the Pacific Harbor Line carries on the zebra stripe on its units.

Fantastic pictures, but #2 is really amazing. What a beautiful unit in that paint scheme.

Interesting how the Geep battery box was left black, creating a notch in the stripes. The FM application is much better! I never noticed how good they look with all that striping on the side.

Do the Geeps have blue Santa Fe heralds?

Interesting looking boxcar behind the engines in the first photo. Wish it wasn't hidden.

SeaboardMan Wrote:
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> Interesting looking boxcar behind the engines in
> the first photo. Wish it wasn't hidden.


Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co.?

https://www.walthers.com/40-single-door-double-sheathed-boxcar-minnesota-mining-mfg-co-1040-magne-matic-r-couplers-light-boxcar-red-large-3m-logo



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/17 09:16 by CPR_4000.

STOP PLEASE! My ticker can't take this so early Sunday morning!!!

Fantastic trio Evan, thanks for sharing. Definitely a cool looking scheme.

Kent in CArmel Valley

Wonderful photos of a great paint scheme. I remember as a youngster, one of the FMs was a regular in Salina KS
Brian Stevens

Killer shots but ref #1, I'd rather see them in Elsinore!

Out

SCKP187 Wrote: > ... I remember as a youngster ...

I'm nearly in the same boat as Brian. I remember seeing numerous the 3000 Class FMs just 23 miles down the road in Abilene. But by the mid-1960s they were already in the blue & yellow 'bookend' scheme. A hearty thank-you to Mr Von Nordeck & to Evan Werkema for sharing these great pieces of Santa Fe history!

Lance/199

CPR_4000- No. They were black and aluminum. wag216

As to the comment on the 3M car, yup, more than likely as 3M had a facility on the Elsinore Branch.

Out

Yes, it was a 3M car. They would store them on a unused industry track in front of the station. Wood truss car for some of them. Not in interchange service, but to haul roof granules to the Los Angeles area, prior to using 60 ft. mill gons and later covered hoppers. As a kid in high school, I would at night take my RR training and weigh the 60 ft. mills at the Corona scales, back in the days of a 16 hr. crew duty time. Since the 60ft had to be spotted twice, it took more time,= a larger pay check.

#2 looks like a Lowey design.

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> Do the Geeps have blue Santa Fe heralds?

My MAC shows them to be blue.

Chris

Like the Zebras.
Thanks for posting.
ALLEN

Great shots of the Santa Fe zebra stripes.
Thanks Ed for the pictures and great scans from Evan.
Gary

Here is a blowup of the two geep emblems and, for comparison, an Elmer Cumming shot from the Western Railway Museum Archives showing a locomotive whose emblem is definitely blue: "HH600" 2300 on loan to the Oakland Terminal Railway pulling onto Shafter Avenue in Oakland, CA as it switches the Sacramento Northern interchange.

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