I've been doing some research into the transition era ATSF, and it seems the late 60's were a turbulent time. Apparently the blue/strong yellow scheme (and the bookend) came in to replace the blue/creamy yellow in 1961 - but rosters place SD24's and GP20's as being purchased in 59 and 60 respectively. I guess this means that the bookend scheme came in before the cat-whisker scheme was revised to the strong yellow scheme? Another oddity is that I've seen various steam rosters with 2-10-2's and 2-8-2's running up until 1956 - is that correct? i.e. only finally kicking the bucket when the GP9's came on the scene? Just idle curiousity really, but interesting nonetheless...
I thought the Cat Whisker scheme was passe by 1953. There are Bill Gibson photos of active 2-10-2s at Amarillo and Emporia from 1955. Photos are in the Santa Fe Trackside with Bill Gibson by Lloyd Stagner.
You Lost Me Here... Somewhere Will and all tuned in, The first FT's in "Cavalry Blue and Yellow", to arrive on the Santa Fe Property, was with the "Cat Whisker" on the nose of the A unit. Later F type units to arrive showed up dressed in the cavalry blue and yellow but with the "Cigar Band" on the nose. I don't recall seeing F type units in something called a creamy yellow. The color yellow was established and adhered to as "Cavalry Blue and Yellow", throughout Santa Fe's history. Perhaps the color faded to a creamy yellow, as yellow fades fairly easily. Shortly after the delivery of the FT's in the Cavalry Blue and Yellow, GP7s, GP9's and SD24's followed dressed in the Zebra Strip and could be found on the point of freights. Later they would receive the cavalry blue and yellow pin stripe paint scheme. Allegedly, some F7's were delivered in the "Cat Whisker" paint scheme but honestly I haven't seen a picture nor do I remember one of these. This will change in a couple of paragraphs...so, stay tuned. A number of FT's and F3's were either painted into and or arrived in the Silver and Red War Bonnet paint scheme, geared and designated to pull crack passenger trains. A number of early FT's in cavalry blue and yellow with cat whiskers on the nose... arrived on the property geared to pull passenger trains. Later some of these same units were regeared for freight duty and painted into the cavalry blue and yellow with the cigar band on the point. As the early F type units were turned in or traded the GP 20's with the cavalry blue and yellow in the pin stripe / book end paint scheme showed up. These units had the same Blomberg trucks the F units rode around on. GP 30's and some GP 35's showed up with the same trucks...as well. I'm sure the Cat Whiskers disappeared right along with the last FT's. However, there is more to learn. To add to the confusion: With regard to N scale model railroading: Intermountain, is delivering early FT's and F7's "Cat Whisker", painted in a faded yellow and black roof. I'm just not sure how authentic these units really are. More research is needed and more is precisely what we do. We aren't done yet! I'l be right back with a website you can visit. Santa Fe Historical Equipment: http://users.snowcrest.net/photobob/sfhindex.html Just click and you are off and running. The website is self explanatory and you should find a lot of interesting details and information. I've lifted three images off the Snowcrest, website and just discovered something very interesting... contradicting... what I said above. Live and learn. These pictures are to be used for illustrative purposes only. If you wish to purchase copies of these pictures the website will assist you with such. This first picture appears to be a Santa Fe, F7 LABC set in "Cat Whiskers". They certainly have all the window markings of F7's. The second set is FT's and in the Cat Whiskers. The third set is a San Bernardino Shop paint job of FT's in a solid blue with the Cigar Band. Now how do I explain that? Grin! It's not what I remember...oh well...it is what it is. Proving you can teach an old dog new tricks...I think! Have fun! .
Where to start. The Cat Whisker scheme was delivered on all F7 sets through the 268LABC set in September 1951. The 269LABC-280LABC F7 sets of November 1953 were delivered with Cigar Band heralds. See Santa Fe 200 Class F3/F7 Diesels 200-239LABC for a chart. No Santa Fe FTs were delivered in passenger colors. The 167LABC set was the first set of passenger FTs delivered in February 1945 after the War Production Board started to relax things. This set of FTs was delivered in freight colors with passenger gearing and steam generators on the B units. A further 10 four unit FT sets were converted to passenger gearing and colors etc in 1946.
Cotton Belt Shines Again! And you'd be better off checking out these websites then to trust my memory. Yikes! We can all learn and that can be fun...too! Thanks for sharing SSW9389! And, a Cotton Belt rail fan out shines an ATSF fan. Not bad, not bad at all. Have fun! .
Hey Barstow: I grew up about five miles from the Santa Fe main line in central Illinois. My earliest train memories are of Santa Fe and of the Rock Island.
Growing up along the Santa Fe tracks! Cotton Belt, You were in a position to see the Santa Fe trains first hand. How lucky can you be? I have no idea of your age or where it places you in histories stage of events. I was born about 10 years to late and saw the coming of diesels through a child's eyes. I didn't really care about "Cat Whiskers" or "Cigar Bands". The color of blue or yellow and etc....! My memories of the Santa Fe are vague at best. I saw the railroad that my grandad, step grand-dad, great uncle and my own dad worked for as marvelous and mysterious. I was full of questions and a-lot of times I was brushed off by, "I don't want to talk about work anymore...I'm home to relax and forget it all". Through my own eyes, I didn't see the railroad or equipment in detail, as perhaps I do today. I simply saw locomotives that hissed, chugged and chuffed around the Barstow Yard. What did a wheel arrangement mean to a wide eyed youngster? Train cars being pushed and shoved, in ways that seemed meaningless. Occasionally, I would pick up a tid-bit but most of the time it was complaints about the suits that ran the railroad. Ie., The suits wouldn't listen to the union when they talked about safety. The ICC or some such legislative branch was always interfering with the day to day operations of the railroad. If only the suits could spend a day on the rails working beside us...and etc. From the sounds of the steam whistles to the blaring horns. The soft hissing and chuffing of a yard goat. To the sounds of the whiny diseasels (spelling intended). Those diesels scared me and reminded me of a growling animal. Mom thought a early visit to a zoo might have had something to do with that analogy. I'd climb all over a steam engine but just try and get me near a diesel. Not a chance! That growling Zebra Striped monster wasn't going to get a chance to gnaw on me. Over the years I've learned to trust my own memories less and less. Most of my rail books are packed in preparation for a move...just not sure where to. So, I'm trying to trust my memories and find them putting me on the spot more and more. Thus, I'm very thankful for the websites dedicated to providing pictures and details of former fallin flags railroads. I can only hope you enjoy my ramblings and get a smile out of witnessing my oops's. After all it's about having fun and if I provide a good laugh for you... remember to laugh with me...and not at me. Oh what the heck I'm to old to worry about such things. Laugh at your leisure. Grin! Have fun~! Take care. Remember to take your memory pill...daily! LOL Funny thing, they look just like the smart pills someone tried to sell me back in grade school. Rabbit...what's? Thanks for jumping in here.
They may have been on roster that late, but I don't think they ran. AFAIK, the only steam running on Santa Fe in '56 and '57 was 4-8-4s and 2-10-4s in Abo Canyon helper service.
Chard Walker in his book Cajon Pass Chard Walker talks about steam being brought back to Cajon Pass during the fall of (date unknown) so the diesels could handle a spuds rush out of the San Joaquin Valley. You can find the details of this in his book "Cajon Pass". I'd give you specifics, if I could find the book quick enough. It's already wrapped and packed and waiting a move to a new home. By 1956 steam was pretty much a thing of the past with a few hold overs. Most were scrapped by 1957 as repair facilities and watering holes dried up, were shut down and/or removed. The N&W or is it N&S was the last railroad to give up their beloved steam engines. They were running steam well after the GP9's showed up. 1956 is right about where my memory of things railroad starts to take on details. I did get to see the last 4-8-4 over Cajon Pass, thanks to my Uncle and Grandmother. They say I slept through most of the chase. Something about putting me in a car and I would be asleep in seconds. Who would of known? Today, I have a tape of the #3759 pulling a consist of standard heavy weights and nothing from it brings back any memories. Of course it wasn't like my grandmother to run with the pack. To dangerous I could hear her saying. Have fun!
Guys, thank you so much for your replies! I don't know what it is, probably my eyesight going - but the yellow and blue cat-whisker scheme to me looks like it's got a different yellow to the cigar band style - maybe it's the red border? You mentioned that the F7's came with catwhisker and that the later deliveries of the F-units got the cigar band - so would it be right to say that I could run a mid 50's model railroad devoid of cigar bands and with a final gasp of steam without being too implausible?
Will as long as the prototype police aren't in your basement you can run any dang thing you want to. The change over in paint schemes took place between the freight F7 deliveries of 1951 and 1953. It would take a railroad the size of the Santa Fe some serious time to get through all the repaints.
Will and all tuned in, The answer is YES!. During the time frame the the Ft's arrived on railroad property the biggest and most efficient steam engines operated on the rails dwarfing the F types. I've done some further research and found that the Cat Whiskered F type's came delivered with a "Cream yellow", or as I described it a faded yellow. It took awhile for me to remember something my granddad said (Santa Fe engineer out of Barstow, CA). He was looking at one of my Tyco HO F7 units and I remember him commenting "The roofs were black and the yellow was a lighter color" in refrence to the FT's and later F7's he operated. I don't recall a refrence to "Cat Whiskers" but he did go over the fact that there were grab irons (handles) you could use to climb up and on the nose of the loco. Sorry, it wasn't my intention to mislead you. I apologize for taking so long to remember these facts. My memory banks work slower then this old computer. It wasn't my intention to mislead you. This is why it is so important to use the resources available via the websites that document the railroads Now I'm off to see how many Intermountain, F7's in cat whiskers I can find Have fun.
