Model Railroading > Rapido A-B-A Santa Fe Repowered PAs?

I recall riding the Santa Fe's San Diegan hauled by a pair of Alco (EMD repowered) PAs back to back. Did the ATSF use these PAs on the nightly LA to CHI Mail & Express trains? I recall the trains had a heavyweight rider coach or was it a baggage-coach? Anyone know where I can get info on these trains? I think their numbers were 7 & 8.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/25 18:11 by RRBMail.

This issue of the Warbonnet covers trains 7 and 8 very well.

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Houston-Clovis trains used the Alcos.

tomstp Wrote:
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> Houston-Clovis trains used the Alcos.

I watched the Mail & Express PAs often as they rolled through Glendora, CA, late in the evening.  



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/25 16:48 by RRBMail.

I rode No. 7 a couple of times, behind PAs.
I think the EMD engine set, no. 51, may have been kept at Los Angeles for the San Diegans, In 1959 I rode one fan trip behind them (see pic).

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needles_sub Wrote:
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> This issue of the Warbonnet covers trains 7 and 8
> very well.

Now if I could only find that issue, or a photo copy. None on eBay nor from the Santa Fe Historical Society.

RRBMail Wrote:
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> I recall riding the Santa Fe's San Diegan hauled
> by a pair of Alco (EMD repowered) PAs back to
> back. Did the ATSF use these PAs on the nightly LA
> to CHI Mail & Express trains? I recall the trains
> had a heavyweight rider coach or was it a
> baggage-coach? Anyone know where I can get info on
> these trains? I think their numbers were 7 &
> 8.  

Trains 7 & 8 normally had a 2602 or a 2609 class Baggage-Express-Coach Combine rider car but 3000 class Chair Cars were used when they were in the shop.

Was the baggage-express-coach one of Santa Fe's boxcar red heavyweights? 

RRBMail Wrote:
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> Was the baggage-express-coach one of Santa Fe's
> boxcar red heavyweights? 

Nope, those were for mixed train service. The mineral red marked them a waycars.

I don't think the repowered PA's worked the Transcon. I'm sure Evan Werkema would know for sure.

The Rapido PA "master class" has a picture of them operating a mail train through Kansas.


https://rapidotrains.com/master-classes/alco-pa-pb-master-class?srsltid=AfmBOooNv7D2g0f6bn-pvqBkg720aO0xSH38GxjA_yMRZ9e5aoEiRFj3

Typhoon Wrote:
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> The Rapido PA "master class" has a picture of them
> operating a mail train through Kansas.
>
>
> https://rapidotrains.com/master-classes/alco-pa-pb
> -master-class?srsltid=AfmBOooNv7D2g0f6bn-pvqBkg720
> aO0xSH38GxjA_yMRZ9e5aoEiRFj3

That picture was taken before they made their trip to EMD to be repowered.

PHall Wrote:
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> Typhoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The Rapido PA "master class" has a picture of
> them
> > operating a mail train through Kansas.
> >
> >
> >
> https://rapidotrains.com/master-classes/alco-pa-pb
>
> >
> -master-class?srsltid=AfmBOooNv7D2g0f6bn-pvqBkg720
>
> > aO0xSH38GxjA_yMRZ9e5aoEiRFj3
>
> That picture was taken before they made their trip
> to EMD to be repowered.

The PA's were repowered in late 1954/early 1955, and the date on the picture is July 16th 1955.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/25 12:49 by Typhoon.

Typhoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Typhoon Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > The Rapido PA "master class" has a picture of
> > them
> > > operating a mail train through Kansas.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://rapidotrains.com/master-classes/alco-pa-pb
>
> >
> > >
> >
> -master-class?srsltid=AfmBOooNv7D2g0f6bn-pvqBkg720
>
> >
> > > aO0xSH38GxjA_yMRZ9e5aoEiRFj3
> >
> > That picture was taken before they made their
> trip
> > to EMD to be repowered.
>
> The PA's were repowered in late 1954/early 1955,
> and the date on the picture is July 16th 1955.
>
>  

Could the picture be of the Repowered PAs returning from EMD after their "transplant"?

in theearly1960s, the repowered 51L-A-C set was assigned to the Los Angeles Division and was used on the San Diegans frequently.  Employees nicknamed it "Christine" after Christine Jorgenseon, one of the first celebrities to have a sex-change operation that was publicized.  In the mid-60s, after the other PAs migrated west and were regularly used as back-to-back pairs on the San Diegans. the three repowered units were split up and cab units 51L and 51C worked the San diegans paired with regular PAs.  They didn't use PB-units with the San Diegan PAs; I was told that a single PA was rated for 8 coaches on Miramar hill, so two were good for 16 cars, (if both were still working -- they weren't very reliable.).  The depot could only hold about a 14-car train with 2 units between Ash Street and Broadway, so additonal units weren't needed. 

In the eaarly '60s, I was a young teen-ager just learning about railroading  I saw 51 L-A-C in San diego fairly often, and until the unmodified PAs came to town, I thought PAs sounded just like EMD 567s!  Later, I had a part-time job at the Sears warehouse along the right-of-way west (north) of Old Town, and whenever a train had one of the EMD-powered PAs in the  consist, you could hear  the EMD engine roaring much louder than the PA in run 8 as they came up to speed leaving town.  What a glorious sound!

I saw 51B occasionally on Cajon Pass as part of a 4-unit set of PAs and PBs on No. 7, The Fast Mail.  51C was retired after a collision with a gravel truck laid it on its side in Anaheim around 1965 or '66.  As far as I know, 51L and 51A worked through 1967 but all the Santa Fe PAs and PBs were retired by the end of that year.

D F W