When the WP upgraded the CZ power to F7s and FP7s, did the F3s go into freight service? If so, were they immediately repainted into a different paint scheme or would they have appeared for awhile in the original passenger scheme? Thanks.
I don't know the exact answer but I did some investigating and here is what I found: Motive Power http://www.wprrhs.org/wpqanda.html Western Pacific
Thanks Bob. That's very helpful. It sounds like the two FP7s simply replaced two of the three F3 A units in the CZ rotation with all else remaining the same. There are several mentions of the replaced F3s being used in freight service, but I'm guessing an ABA set in the CZ scheme in freight service would be non-existant.
Yes, it seem like 801A & 802A were only renumbered to 925A & 925D when they were used for freight. I can't find anything about repainting them to freight colors immediately. Maybe someone else has more information about this they can share with us.
Bob, The story I heard for a long time WP employee was when the new locos were put on the CZ the older power was repainted to look like CZ power. This painting was done in Oakland and in Oroville. The locos painted in Oakland came out of the shop with the WP herald and black stripes around the nose. The Oroville repaints came out with the wings so they still looked like CZ power. Shannon
Yes, F3s were regulated to freight service upon arrival of the FP7s and F7Bs. The CZ was almost always run as ABB consists, Oddly enough it seems it was not uncommon to run with an FP7, F7B and an F3B. Occasionally ABA with FP7s were run and even more rare were ABA sets with an F3A (although there is a picture of this on pg 57 of Bob Larson's WP Locomotives and Cars, Vol I.) I have not seen any F3s repainted into the freight scheme, in fact I have seen numerous pictures all the way up to OCT of 1970 with them still in passenger CZ scheme. In 1971 the F3s were traded to EMD for GP40s.
