Nostalgia & History > Thirty Thursday, Santa Fe . . .

.   .   .   back in APR '90, one of Santa Fe's hottest trains, 891, was waiting for a new crew at the "steps" at the Barstow, CA, terminal. Very unusual to have this GP30 leading this train as most of the time it was five "big jacks"
JB

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What is a "big jack"?

Rmosele Wrote: > ...  What is a "big jack"?

BIG engine. Lotsa horsepower. JB is right. In my Kansas neck-o-the Santa Fe woods I NEVER ONCE saw anything less than 6 axles/3000+ HP per unit, usually always 4 and sometimes 5 Big Jacks on trains 198 ~ 891 & 199 ~ 991...

Lance/199 

First-rate lashup and photo.
Bob

Note the ex-BN SD60 next to last in the consist.  Good catch, JB, thanks for posting.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/20 19:32 by ntharalson.

Very nice.  Really clean unit on the point!

ntharalson Wrote:
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> Note the ex-BN SD60 next to last in the
> consist.

1 of 3 SD60's (#8300-#8302) blt. for BN in 11/85, but which were off of the roster only 2 years later in 11/87, as BN had the 100 Oakway Leasing SD60's blt. 10/86 to 12/86. These 3 remained in patched BN "Tiger Stripe" paint as EMDX #8300-#8302 until the 1995-97 timeframe, at which point they got an EMD demonstrator scheme very similar to what the SD70M demos wore. All 3 then went to CSX in 2001 as #8787-#8789.

The GP30 must have been the only unit they could find that had a working air conditioner and a working radio!

Rainier_Rails Wrote:

> 1 of 3 SD60's (#8300-#8302) blt. for BN in 11/85,
> but which were off of the roster only 2 years
> later in 11/87

They wore BN colors, but they were demonstrators owned by EMD and only leased short-term to BN. 

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> They wore BN colors, but they were demonstrators
> owned by EMD and only leased short-term to BN.

Thanks for the correction. I wondered if that was the case, given the very short timeframe that they were "on the property".