Nostalgia & History > CB&Q California Zephyr F3A 9960C

CB&Q F3A 9960C in Eola Yard (Illinois) on September 1, 1964. She was built for the California Zephyr in October 1947 and sold for scrap in November 1965. The CZ began running in March 1949. What did the 3 F3 ABA set for the CZ pull between October 1947 and March 1949?  I'm told the F3s were bought because the Q thought they would run in the mountains west of Denver. Since that was not the case the F3s were soon replaced with E-units and the F3s regeared and and painted for freight service. They kept their 9900 series numbers though.

The the B-unit in the photo is an F3B, probably 9960B.  The third unit is unknown.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/23 14:19 by MartyBernard.

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Cool shot, Marty.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

Beautiful!
Bob

first i had heard of diesels running thru!!

why did q f's go to scrap earlier than other BN rr's?

The idea of running the F3s west of Denver is someone's dream, not in reality. The CZ was in development before WW2. It was put on hold till the war was over. The plan called for the trainsets to be intermixed and interchanged between the 3 host railroads with each host purchasing their own power not to be interchanged. As we know CB&Q and WP chose F3s and D&RGW chose Alco PAs. Im sure they would have equipped them with dynamic brakes had it ever been considered. 

The CZ was a continuation of the Exposition Flyer that all 3 railroads collaborated on with a joint venture to run a train to the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay in 1939. It did so well they continued the train. Each railroad used their own power then too. As for what the F3s did between 37 and 40, id assume they did the same as WP. The WPs F3s planned for the CZ arrived in 37 also and were broken in on the Exposition Flyer until Budd delivered train sets.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/23 21:13 by TomG.

they also tried to get a st louis  section via the MP, but times could never be worked out, splitting off at grand junction i would imagine