Santa Fe Beep. Anybody ever build one? (Model version)
Cute lil sucker.
Looks like a fun diesel to put together! I havn’t done one, but putting them together is half the fun!!
Santa Fe also took old F units and put a GP long hood on them in their Cleburne,Tx shops
These are called CF7’s.
Tom
There’s a bit more to a CF7 than that - they’re a completely new bodyshell on an F unit frame. I’m not sure how they got around the structural problems though - the strength of the F unit and other carbody designs was from the whole shell (much like a modern car or aeroplane) while hood units have stronger frames - the hoods are just there to keep the weather off. Lopping the bodywork off an F unit would cause the frame to buckle under the weight - I’ve seen locos being scrapped where this has happened after the body sides were cut off before the power unit was removed. I do recall reading somewhere that the CF7 couldn’t be operated in large MU lashups for this reason, though I may be wrong.
I believe they rebuilt/reenforced the frames with new I beams to beef up the frames.