Grassroots Railroad Sports?

The full roster of ATSF's Fairbanks-Morse Erie-Builts lead Train 101, the Centennial State, a service that departed Denver and connected with the Grand Canyon Limited at La Junta. ATSF purchased the A-B-A set of Erie-Builts with great hopes for the Raymond Loewy-styled, 2000hp, A1A-trucked locomotives, only for them to be seriously disappointed when they had a major mechanical failure on a Chicago-LA train when brand new. There was particular trouble on the road duty FMs with the the vertical drive assembly which kept the upper and lower crankshaft properly timed so the pistons would not physically hit each other. One of the crankshafts was offset by 12 degrees in relation to the other crankshaft, and apparently the #90's vertical drive was prone to loosening which would lead to the pistons hitting each other with catastrophic results. The #90 pretty much doomed any future sales of Fairbanks-Morse road power to the Santa Fe, although they would own a handful of end-cab switchers and the unique H12-44TS, an H12-44 switcher running gear in an H16-44 body and frame with a steam generator for preheating passenger cars at terminals. When ATSF purged the first of their diesels, the Erie-Builts were among the first to go, beat only by the sole Alco DL-109 on the roster.

Erie-Built wasn't an actual model designation from Fairbanks-Morse. In fact, Fairbanks-Morse never even gave the unit a model name. But since F-M lacked locomotive-building facilities at the time, they were assembled at General Electric's Erie, PA factory, leading to railfans referring to them as Erie-Builts. They also used General Electric generators and traction motors as part of the pairing. F-M would then go on to use Westinghouse electrical gear in a lot of their locomotives afterwards, only to return to GE near the end when Westinghouse left the locomotive industry entirely.

ATSF's sole set of Alco DLs. While broadly referred to as DL-109s, there were a number of different model names due to running changes, and so the lead cab unit, #50, is technically a DL-107, while the booster unit, #50A, is technically a DL-108. But according to ATSF, they were better classified as "junk". The #50 got off to a rough start with the Santa Fe when a representative went to Schenectady for the roll-out and saw the two units rocking-and-rolling as the four 6-cylinder Macintosh & Seymour 539Ts idled away. As someone who has ridden in the cab of a locomotive with an M&S 539, they are a rough-and-tumble, paint-shaker of an engine. Santa Fe expressed concerns about the vibrations transmitting back to the passenger cars, and so before delivery, Alco supposedly braced the frame and body, but they were still reported to still rattle the dishes in the dining car at stops. The account of their first westbound run on the Super Chief suggests that they all but melted the traction motors down to the ballast going over Raton Pass' 3.5% grade, and with that, their long-distance days were over. They were banished to flatter running and less prestigious trains and were among the first diesels retired by Santa Fe. Needless to say, they didn't return for anymore DLs and it wasn't until after WWII that they went back and purchased Alco passenger power, with 28 PA-1s and 16 PB-1s. They seemed slightly happier with those, keeping them running until 1967, although they did attempt an EMD repower on at least one unit.

Also, worth pointing out the weird full Santa Fe lettering on both sides of the nose, instead of the typical application where it was centered. I guess that big Mars light would have broke the lettering up and made it look really weird (SAN   TA FE? SANT   A FE? )

ATSF #50 and #50A on the Super Chief, according to photographer notes, which might mean that this is it's first and only run on that train. Also, it doesn't ave the red Mars light below the headlamp and has more conventional Santa Fe lettering on the nose. It also looks like it has some sort of visor over the headlamp. WWII blackout visor, perhaps?

ATSF #4, an EMC E1A/E1B pair with an E3B tacked on. The #4 was originally purchased as protection power for the Super Chief, but when ATSF purchased additional Budd lightweight equipment to modernize the El Capitan, the largely idled #4 was instead moved over to haul that train. The EMC E1 looked very similar to the concurrent EMC EA, of which the B&O was the sole buyer, and was also mechanically similar to the EMC E2, of which UP, SP and C&NW were joint owners. It used A1A trucks and two 900hp Winton 201A engines. The earlier shovelnose was done away with on EMD E-units after the E6, due to it's tendency to ramp cars up towards the cab during collisions, and the frenched in headlight with the angled lense was ditched after the E1, due to it's poor lighting characteristics. After WWII, with the arrival of PAs, E3s, and E6s, the E1s were demoted to secondary trains, and then in 1952 they were sent back to EMD, where they were rebuilt with 567 engines and the later E-unit nose and became E8ms (B&O did something similar with their EAs). Technically, with only 2000hp total, they were mechanically closer to an E7, since an E8 made 2250hp. The reason for the lesser horspower was that the early traction motors were marginal at that horsepower level.

ATSF #81, formerly EMC #1, now rebuilt to an E8M. Someone mentioned that in the '60s, the Pacific Locomotive Association ran a charter trip on the Santa Fe over the route of the San Diegan and requested Alco PAs for power, with E8Ms as a second choice. The Santa Fe instead assigned F-units to the trip and told them "Tough E36 M3." One of the people involved with the trip recalled that a week after the excursion, the #81 showed up assigned to the San Diegan for a week, almost as if ATSF was thumbing their nose at the PLA.

In reply to NickD :

Their war bonnet livery is still one of my favorites. Honestly, so much so that I'm still irked we ended up with BNSF instead of SFSP. 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

How about the absolutely horrific BNSF "Vomit Bonnet"?

In reply to NickD :

Yeah that's completely atrocious. Though I don't remember any BN liveries that actually looked good?

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

I actually really liked the BN Cascade Green, white and black, especially the version with the combined letter logo and the white cab front. It was really crisp and fresh.

I also really liked the look of their E9Ams that they used for their Chicago commuter runs

NickD said:

I saw a flyer on Facebook for this RDC charter trip on the Reading & Northern with rare mileage, photo runbys, and a visit to see CNJ #113. I'm strongly considering purchasing a ticket for this. Originally they were also advertising going to Good Springs but R&N said they didn't feel comfortable enough with the track condition to take passengers there. 

 

Well, I sent my check in the mail for this yesterday. I'll drive down Friday, and my hope is to go to either the Colebrookdale Railroad or the Allentown & Auburn on Friday, ride this excursion Saturday, and then head over to Strasburg and spend the day photographing there before heading home.

Found these while going through pictures looking for the diesel shop in Springfield (found them but still need to decide what to scan)

Frisco 1522 undergoing restoration in summer 1987 at the National Museum of Transportation in St Louis:

And a later undated pic of it after restoration:

If you haven't been, I'd recommend hitting the museum if you are ever in the area.  A lot of what they have is in bad shape, but they also have some pretty rare stuff.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Frisco #1522 is the one retired excursion star I really wish I could have seen. Those who did said she was one of the loudest steam locomotives that they had ever heard. Also, according to those who ran and maintained her, also a capricious machine. "She was a lot of fun, but she made us tear our hair out" was the quote I saw. Sadly parked due to the cost of an overhaul, rising insurance costs, and dwindling friendly Class Is. Also noteworthy for being the sole American 4-8-2 to run in the preservation era.

In reply to NickD :

I do remember hearing it was a maintenance nightmare.  I think even during the restoration, from talking to some of the guys (probably in the pictures above), there were some design elements that had them a little baffled as to why they were done the way they were.

I don't remember it being particularly loud when it went through, but that could be relative.  I never got to ride behind it, but I probably have some pictures I took of at least one of its journeys.  I was in Schuman Park in Rolla, MO when it passed through, so it was in front of me, and its sister #1501 was behind me on display.

In reply to eastsideTim : 

The pilot truck always gave them huge issues. The #1522 was all friction bearings all the way around, and he said if they were to get another steam locomotive going, he'd get something with roller bearings. There's this account of pilot truck issues they had on a trip:

"This was the trip we sadly referred to as "the Death March". We were slated to run up to Minnesota for some sort of festival and on the way started having problems with the left front pilot truck bearing. We laid up at Camp Point, IL, removed the wheelset and bearing box and trucked it to Galesburg and then Mt. Pleasant, IA to remove scoring on the journal. Got her back together and made it to Bettendorf, IA. She seemed to be doing OK, so late that night we left and were way behind schedule. I got just north of Bettendorf and the overheat alarm went off again. We laid up there, canceled the rest of the trip and worked some more on the bearing.

At one time, we had the entire pilot truck out from under her and in the Galesburg shop where we retrammed, triple checked all dimensions and carefully got her back together.

We started back home, where I ran her from Galesburg to Hannibal and she did fine on that leg and the rest of the way home.

Early in the '91 season we lit out for another spin north and the damned thing cooked again. That's when we rebuilt the pilot truck with roller bearings and stopped the problem once and for all. Two years later, we went off rail on a wye after the overhaul we had just completed. Hundreds of thousands of dollars for 23 miles of trouble-free running.

There were some long nights and dirty days involved here and that's the side of operating steam you don't hear about that much. It's not all blasting the stack and glory."

I finally took the plunge and bought an actual camera, a Sony Z-EV10, because I'd finally started hitting the technical limitations of my phone camera. Any sort of zoom and the quality went to hell, and catching moving subjects was often hit or miss. So, yesterday, I went to take it on a test-run and shoot some photos of one of Adirondack Railroad's Cabin Fever Limiteds that they've started running from Utica to Remsen and back in the winter.

Last time I had been to Utica, the MLW S-18u twins had been winterized and their exhaust stacks capped, so I knew it would be either C424 #2400 or M420W #3575 for power, provided they didn't borrow one of MA&N's C425s or M420Ws. I was hoping for the #2400, in that new D&H-inspired livery, but it turned out to be the #3573. I was okay with that, since I hadn't seen the #3573 operate, and technically $200 of that locomotive is mine (I donated several times towards it's purchase and move to Utica). Last year the consist was one RS-18u and all three of their passenger cars in the new green and yellow livery, so it was a really nice, matched consist. This year, ridership must be up, because they had six cars, all of which seemed well filled, but three were in the old NYC livery, one was in ex-N&W/NS, and two were in the green and yellow, plus the #3573 is in grungy CN colors with the nose painted green, so it was a bit of a dog's breakfast in terms of appearance.

At the Morris Road crossing in Marcy

Crossing Maple Ave/Miller Road in Holland Patent.

Passing through Trenton at milepost 16, getting ready to climb Remsen Hill

At the Plank Road crossing, having made it up Remsen Hill and on the final couple miles into Remsen.

Arriving in Remsen.

Steam on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad. In the winter of 1999, Delaware-Otsego Corp. president Walter Rich brought his Chinese-built Mikado, New York, Susquehanna & Western #142, up from New Jersey over the former DL&W through Chenago Forks, Eaton and Richfield, to Utica and ran a couple of trips up the Adirondack Scenic Railroad. She's shown with 8 cars and RS-3 #8223, all in New York Central livery, making her way along the lower Utica-Remsen segment. According to the engineer on #142, he told the engineer aboard the #8223 only to help if it was absolutely necessary and let the #142 do all the work. Apparently there is still a small pile of coal left over in the MA&N's Utica yard from these trips.

A longer video of the steam excursions on the Adirondack. These were reported to be very popular and a huge moneymaker for the Adirondack Scenic Railroad. One of the stories that I've heard was that on the first trip, it was fairly well-attended, but not a ton of people knew it was happening. The #142 did great with the 8 cars, and so for the next trip they planned to run just the #142 alone, with no diesel assistance. But by then, word was out, and it was much higher attended, resulting in them adding four more cars. The #142 made it to Remsen Hill and stalled out, and they had to wait for the #8223 to come to the rescue. Sadly, these trips are unlikely to happen again. When Walter Rich died in 2007, the #142 was sold off and is now owned by the NYS&W Technical & Historical Society and runs down at the Belvidere & Delaware River Railway. 

I need to talk to some of my neighbors.  For quite a while, they had a business doing mechanical refurb and maintenance on privately owned cars.  Mostly passenger cars, but I think they did some work on cabooses, too.  Owning old passenger cars and leasing them out for excursions seems to be an expensive hobby.

There was actually supposed to be regular steam-powered excursions out of Utica on the 1979-1980 Adirondack Railway that Frank Menair ran. After the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid were over, Frank Menair had plans to bring a trio of steam locomotive to Utica and continue operation using them. His buddy Sam Freeman owned Florida East Coast 4-6-2 #168, which was running regular trips in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Menair had purchased Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 2-6-0 #565 and was having it converted to oil-firing at the New Hope & Ivyland's shops, and Menair also purchased Canadian National 2-8-2 #3254 to move up there as well. 

This never came to pass though. The Adirondack Division hadn't seen any major maintenance since the '50s, at least, and had been basically abandoned by the New York Central/Penn Central, and so by the summer of 1980, the line was pretty much falling apart and suffering frequent derailments. Service stopped in August of 1980, then resumed in September and continued sporadic operation until February of 1981, at which point the line went dormant again, until it's revival in 1992. Realisitically, as decrepit as the roadbed was, trying to regularly run steam locomotives on it would have pounded it apart. FEC #148 passed through several owners and these days is back in Florida at U.S. Sugar after having been completely rebuilt, DL&W #565 was pretty much abandoned at NH&I and then passed through a couple owners before ending up at Scranton in the Steamtown collection, and CN #3254 was sold to the infamous Gettysburg Railroad, then traded for CPR #1278, and ran at Steamtown until 2012.