There is a customer in my model train shop right now and he keeps asking me where the restored locomotives from the Santa Fe Super Chief reside.
Now I will admit up front: I don’t know everything…don’t know what was saved and what was not. Don’t know the roster of every railroad museum in the U.S.
But I’m not aware of any of the “sets” or units being saved or restored.
He insists there MUST be a set of SF A/B/B/As in the warbonnet passenger scheme on display somewhere. His exact words were “surely they wouldn’t destroy such a famous train!” (I think he thinks all the passenger cars from the Super Chief must be preserved also.)
Anyway, I’ve tried to explain to him that famous or not, railroads just can’t save everything and that most of the Super Chief equipment was most likely scrapped.
But as I mentioned, since I don’t know everything, it occurred to me to ask the members of the Trains forum if indeed any of the Super Chief was saved and if it was, what was preserved and where is it?
I know you are asking about the F units and I don’t know of any off hand, but the FP45s were originally bought for passenger service and a few are preserved, includeing one at the Orange Empire Railroad Museum.
and this one at the Barstow passenger station.
Now that I think about it I believe there was an A/B set at Railfair 91’ in Sac. I’ll see if I can find a picture.
I think (I am not entirly sure), that there is a Santa Fe Warbonnet unit preserved out in California. I can remember in the America by Rail: The West Coast video it showed a picture of the Sacramento Southern steam train, and right next to it appeared to be a beautifuly restored Santa Fe locomotive. And a few years ago, on the front of a Walthers model train catalog, there was a picture of a “Santa Fe Super Chief re-enactment train” or something like that. On the front was a SF warbonnet locomotive (it appeared to be an E unit). So, while there may not be an entire train of Super Chief equipment still around, there are at least one (or maybe two) locomotives that could have pulled it still in operation. Once again though, I’m not sure. You’ll have to check it out.
Ok, My memory didn’t fail me this time. There was indeed a set of F units at Railfair 91’. Sorry the picture is so bad but the lab screwed up the whole roll and this is as good as I could get it in photoshop. Behind the 554 is an A and B set. They might even be owned by the Cal State museum, But I’m not sure as there were many “guest” peices of equiptment.
There is an AB pair of Santa Fe warbonnet F units at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. There are also six FP45s preserved at various sites.
Most of the Super Chief equipment would probably have ended up in Amtrak in 1971. IIRC the early Amtrak Chief used the original equipment from the Super Chief. As time went on the cars ended up on other trains and like most of the Amtak Heritage Fleet were eventually retired/scrapped. The E units were probably absorbed in to the early Amtrak fleet and eventually repainted and finally retired.
DMoore did you mean F units. The last Santa Fe E units were traded in on GP38s in 1970. When Amtrak started in 1971 75 F units were leased from Santa Fe to cover the ex-Santa Fe passenger trains. These Santa Fe passenger F units were replaced by Amtrak’s SDP40Fs starting in 1973. The displaced F units were placed in freight service and/or converted into CF7s at the Cleburne Shops.
Doyle McCormick has the two Mexican ex ATSF/D&H/NdeM Alco PA hulks. one is now a Nickel Plate “bluebird” and the other was to go to the Smithsonian in its original Warbonnet Paint ( not running)…
Most of the covered wagons were demoted to freight service (yellow bonnets) and later were fodder for CF7’s at Cleburne. McMillan & crew have multiple books on that. I’m wondering if any wagontop CF7’s are still out there? All I see are the ones with Topeka Cabs.
Whoops! I forgot to tell all you guys thanks for the answers! Well this will give me a little more information for him. Yes indeed he was more interested in the F units than the FP45s but I will mention it to him anyway. Like a dork I forgot about the one at IRM even though I’ve stood on that stairway and got a killer shot of the warbonnet paint! Doh! And I should have been able to tell him that a lot of the Fs were rebuilt into CF7s.
Also yes I have seen the SF highlevel cars on Amtrak. And I will mention that a lot of the passenger car fleet was absorbed into Amtrak in '71.
But he should be most interested in the F units on display there in Sacramento. Thanks for the photo Chad.
The Santa Fe FP45 now owned by the Illinois Railway Museum once gave me the fastest ride I’ve ever had on a freight train.
It was Fall of 1971, I had just dropped off a company truck to the Superintendent’s office at San Bernardino, Calif., and I had to deadhead back to the office at Barstow. At about 9 o’clock in the morning I boarded the eastbound “Super C,” then the world’s fastest regularly scheduled freight train, for the ride home. With ATSF 5942 on the point (IRM’s unit) and three additional F45s/FP45s (14,400-hp total) in the locomotive consist we started the climb up Cajon.
Well with only 1400 tons in tow, Extra 5942 East made the eastbound grade up Cajon look like an ant hill. At places west of the summit we were ascending the mountain territory at speeds of up to 55-mph. After topping out the grade we started the long descent into Barstow. Slammin’ through Victorville at 82-mph we nearly kissed the rear end of a loaded cement truck that made its way barely through a downtown highway crossing. At the instant of our near collision I d*mn near unloaded in my shorts, but to the old head engineer who worked the “Super C” daily, closely avoiding a spectacular collision with some careless driver was a common occurence!
Santa Fe did a lot of fast, hard-charging railroading in those days; but, then again, diesel fuel was only 10-cents/gallon!
