Railroaders' Nostalgia > CF7 as an art form?

It’s that magic time of the day when a great sunset kisses the daylight with spectacular pastel color, then embraces the coming darkness of the night. And this one happens to be during the first time I ever caught Santa Fe power in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas. At this late date train crews ran down here from Strong City to switch this elevator strictly on an “as needed” basis.

There is plenty here for me to be nostalgic about. I found this consist working the elevator in 1977. Even though I didn’t hire on with the Santa Fe for another 8 months. This is the old Middle Division Cottonwood Falls Spur that once reached down from Strong City on the 1st District passenger main between Emporia & Newton. In 1979 and again in 1983 I was a Santa Fe brakeman working trains that came down to service this same elevator. Yes, I shot a few slides each time. And I was surely the only one on my crew(s) who was enjoying this kind of diversion. Everyone else considered switching this Cottonwood Falls spur to be a pesky, irritating delay in getting home to Emporia and off duty. At a maximum speed of 10 MPH down & back up it was at best a 90 minute delay, sometimes longer.

But today the spur and its elevator are long gone. They were removed way before the BNSF merger. No matter how nostalgic it might have been, SFe pencil-pushers didn’t allow such a tax liability to remain on the books. But I’m lucky enough to have the nostalgic memories, along with a few slide scans... :^)

1. AT&SF 2581 is on the (TT east) end of a consist working the ancient grain elevator at Cottonwood Falls, KS.
Kodachrome slide taken September 18, 1977.

Thanks for looking way back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/24 15:35 by santafe199.

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I don't agree with you on much Garrels but that's a great shot. I will always have a place in my heart for those "converted F7s". I wish we could use cameras when on duty these days. Moments like these are true vanishing vistas. Thanks for taking the time to capture such a "mundane moment", and for sharing it with us.

Most excellent shot.  Great time of the railroad day and historic subject matter of the past.

Thanks 'Notch', very nice compliment. I don't remember what I climbed up onto for this shot. But I was on my way north (home to Manhattan) after one of my very first solo trips down into the Flint Hills. K-177 highway is just out of frame to the right. Getting this shot was sheer dumb luck... :^)

Lance

That last unit is a RARE AT&SF GP7/9 WITH dynamic brakes. Also, only one CF7 had dynamics. What # is that unit? Thanks!

santafe199 Wrote:
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> It’s that magic time of the day when a great
> sunset kisses the daylight with spectacular pastel
> color, then embraces the coming darkness of the
> night. And this one happens to be during the first
> time I ever caught Santa Fe power in Cottonwood
> Falls, Kansas. At this late date train crews ran
> down here from Strong City to switch this elevator
> strictly on an “as needed” basis.
>
> There is plenty here for me to be nostalgic about.
> I found this consist working the elevator in 1977.
> Even though I didn’t hire on with the Santa Fe
> for another 8 months. This is the old Middle
> Division Cottonwood Falls Spur that once reached
> down from Strong City on the 1st District
> passenger main between Emporia & Newton. In 1979
> and again in 1983 I was a Santa Fe brakeman
> working trains that came down to service this same
> elevator. Yes, I shot a few slides each time. And
> I was surely the only one on my crew(s) who was
> enjoying this kind of diversion. Everyone else
> considered switching this Cottonwood Falls spur to
> be a pesky, irritating delay in getting home to
> Emporia and off duty. At a maximum speed of 10 MPH
> down & back up it was at best a 90 minute delay,
> sometimes longer.
>
> But today the spur and its elevator are long gone.
> They were removed way before the BNSF merger. No
> matter how nostalgic it might have been, SFe
> pencil-pushers didn’t allow such a tax liability
> to remain on the books. But I’m lucky enough to
> have the nostalgic memories, along with a few
> slide scans... :^)
>
> 1. AT&SF 2581 is on the (TT east) end of a consist
> working the ancient grain elevator at Cottonwood
> Falls, KS.
> Kodachrome slide taken September 18, 1977.
>
> Thanks for looking way back!
> Lance Garrels
> santafe199

I didn't start going down to the Flint Hills to watch the ATSF until the late '80s, after the Cottonwood Falls branch had been abandoned and the tracks were pulled up.  Always wondered about what things looked like when the railroad was still there.   
Great photo at a rarely photographed area!  If you have more from around the Cottonwood Falls area, I'd love to see 'em!
   Doug

Yes that last unit is a 7 or 9.  Spotting feature at any distance is the side sills in a consist.

The first unit built - 2649 - had the dynamics as it was a rescued hood from another unit.  That one was originally built with the F7 windowed round cab, then rebuilt to a standard round cab, was in both the pinstripe and yellowbonnet, ended up sold to the Reading & Northern, and got 'scrapped out' to donate the 567 prime mover to another preserved F-unit - DL&W 664 F3.

Our local shortline ended up with four of them, and the lack of dynamics was a real issue.  All scrapped now.  And I became convinced that Cleburne didn't do much of a paint job either for primer or any clearcoat, as they all turned into faded rustbuckets rather quickly.   Anybody that properly repainted one still has an intact body.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/24 07:48 by randgust.

CF7.  Looks like a design by Salvador Dali.

-LD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/24 07:53 by LarryDoyle.

Lance thanks for this photo. There certainly aren't many taken at this location. The first time I drove thru here on K177 they were pulling up the track in town. There were a line of stored I believe box cars starting at the north end of the bridge to very close to the junction switch at Strong City. Never took any pictures of that and the next time I drove thru there all the tracks and the bridge were gone too.

 

GREAT photo!
I Love the CF7!
TAH

I don't mean to hijack your thread, but here is a photo from Watsonville, California showing one of Roaring Camp's CF7.  When I look at the thing I think of a prop from a Mad Max movie.  Your photo presents their nice side. I suppose if it wasn't for conversion none of them would be running today.  

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

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webmaster Wrote: > ... I don't mean to hijack your thread, but ...

No complaint here! You gave me an excuse to go digging and see if I had the SFe version of the 2467. I did find AT&SF "2467" in my master file. But I also discovered I had incorrectly put 2467 on engine 2462. So your image helped me to correct yet another "tpyo" from my less-than-desirable secretarial talents. Are you that long-needed secretary I've been looking for all these 13 years??? (Don't answer that, I know what it will be... ;^)

Lance

Is that a winterization hatch on the 2467?  It didn't leave Cleburne with one.

Lovely snap at Cottonwood Falls! Thanks for the post.

That sky looks like a Ted Rose painting.

Rebecca Morgan
Jacobsburg, OH

Like the webmaster I sure in the heck don't want to hijack your post. However over the years I've caught a few of them on shortlines. Always enjoyed catching those former Santa Fe
locomotives. 
Midwest Coal Hauling near Paradise Kentucky December 1995
C&C 103 Lafayette Georgia July 1995
AD&N Crosset Arkansas May 1994
 

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srman Wrote: > … Like the webmaster I sure in the heck don't want to hijack your post …

No complaint here. It’s kinda cool knowing I was part of the original (rattle-T-bleeping-bang) era of Santa Fe’s CF7s. And to see that same rattle(……. etc) went on to other RRs works for me… 🥳

Posted from iPhone

A first rate slide . Love the colors . Candidate for "Image of the Day ."  Thanks, Lance. 

Nice old capture Lance. I worked on the beet hauler GW in 1973-4

Don Allender

They do have that homebrew look....and I like them!