The most beautiful engines ever built. It's great to see them in all their beautiful glory. Hats off to the men that helped bring these beauties back to life!!!!
Moving at 5 mph, what a shame. These locomotives used to fly down the tracks over 100 mph from city to city I remember hearing the horn a mile away and the gates would go down and 15 seconds later the train would blast by so fast it was a blurr The passengers having a meal or drinks or taking in the sights as the train flew through towns
Wow, this takes me back. My grandad was Superintendent of Special Service (Chief Detective) for the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe -- headquartered in this very same Galveston depot -- for many years until retiring in 1965. As a kid I made many a trip with him behind the old F units. A time long gone now, when people actually groomed themselves and dressed neatly to travel!
I asked for the War Bonnet train set every Christmas when I was a kid, never got one, I absolutely loved that train and that's coming from a GNRY, Omaha orange and Pullman green fan!!
@@Tadfafty We've gotten so greedy that possibly having to spend a few extra dollars to make something have individuality and make it memorable is gone.
@@Tadfafty In the era that these were designed "streamlining" was more about styling than efficiency at speed. During this period refrigerators, toasters and even clothing was streamlined. The slight curvature of an "F" units nose won't have much of an effect on efficiency considering the frontal mass of the locomotive and the sped that it usually travels. Look at the high speed European trains and you will see how much streamlining is necessary to affect efficiency. The nose tapers down to almost nothing.
Regarding the restoration they had as to what updates were done depends on who is funding the rebuild and the what the budget is. I forget who owns them but I was shown through a rebuilt set of F-7A units that looked like F-7A's on the outside but were totally modern on the inside. V-16 645E series engines instead of the 567C engines, replaced the DC main generator with an alternator as when they were done and kicked them out of the shop you had 2 F-7A car body's with GP-38-2 innards inside making them far easier to maintain and operate and raising the horsepower to 2000 each. The power plant upgrade also eliminated the need for transition on the locomotive's thus providing a smoother ride and when rebuilding the trucks upgraded them to so the trucks got GP38-2 traction motors. If your going to rebuild 1950's era locomotive's for the company office train why not do it right? From the outside no one would know and you wouldn't have electricians scratching their heads asking another electrician, you familiar with these?
Thanks for the details on the rebuild. Those old F units sound pretty amazing. It's cool that these old EMD products can be rebuilt over and over - kind like 60s muscle cars...
@@tommythomason6187 - Actually, the 2 A Units were purchased from MARC and they were F9A's with the turbocharged EMD 567C prime mover rated at 1,800 hp; and the 2 B units were F7B's with the turbocharged EMD 567D2 prime mover rated at 2,000 hp, and were originally owned by the Chicago Great Western railroad. Norfolk Southern decide to rebuild all 4 units by equipping each of them with an EMD 645, and upgrading them with the innards of the GP38-2 locomotives that the prime movers came from. Personally, I think of 2 of them as an F38-2A unit and the other 2 as an F38-2B unit. All 4 were sold to 2 different small railroads, each getting an A-B set during 2019.
Santa Fe Warbonnets , one of the most iconic loco's of all time, and my all time favorite. I have some on my HO layout. I grew up in a RR town when steam was being phased.
Image was a serious factor taken into consideration during this era. Paint schemes and frequent washings were simply a matter of course compared to today's "get by with the bare minimum" philosophy. ;)
Thanks for sharing the vid... I grew up with both ATSF F's and the Espee F's, so I enjoy these old Southern Pacific units in Santa Fe paint all the same. Yep, a lot of different details between the two railroad's units (horns, pilots/plows, tanks, skirting over the tanks, lighting arrangements) but these still look nice. Ditch lights look weird, of course, but a required evil these days.
Johnnie Welborn, Jr. - Yet the Dutch lights could be better integrated to the car body, by placing/locating ‘em, into the Anti-climber arrangement at the bottom of the car body next to the coupler housing, infact placing them here, one would be none~the~wiser it wasn’t original....
To all you guys complaining about the paint. Let me pass along what an old German engineer told me once. "Bad beer is better than no beer at all." Discuss
By your own logic then, one could go to a junkyard, pull out a rusted old F-hulk that is full of holes, won't turn over and is falling apart and you would love and feel the same way about it in that condition.
Beautiful..Those units pulled my family on the California Zephyr in the 60’s. A great adventure awaited us as we pulled out of Chicago. Back then I think the terminus was Oakland not Emeryville.
I prefer the PA's and E8/E9's, but the F3 and F7 were beautiful. Many is the time I rode the El Capitan between Los Angeles and Amarillo, La Junta and Chicago.
Amazing how many of the F-Units are still around... The pneumatics on the older ones sounded like a shot gun when they went off!!! "Pop!!!, Pop!!!", then the chug, lug, lug of the pumps...
A few years ago I was stopped at the railroad tracks waiting for a Union Pacific freight train to pass but to my surprise the two lead locomotives was the Union Pacific F units
I'd say almost everything is restored...With the newer GE Genesis and its computerization as the 3rd loco, I'm wondering if the F units have more up-to-date controls and control interfaces, especially with Amtrak featuring nostalgic flairs on some of its cross-country journeys now...Also looks like there's some fine old comfort and first class service in some of those cars!
Glory days warbonnet paint scheme looks great. I think it looked even better on the ALCO PA/PB units with that long hood. If you Google "ALCO PA locomotives", theres a great shot, "Alco Pa-1 51 Santa Fe Chief Diesel Locomotive Chicago 1946." Always got a thrill hearing the superchargers whine as they passed my grandma's house on the way to San Diego. Glad to see these historical engines restored.
Rebel9668 - ...need a B unit and another A unit for the classic ABAA The first A forward and the aft A's backward. (A lash-up for besting the Rocky mountains.)
A part of RR history, brought back to life! thanks to all those who made it possiable! now, are they going to use it on excursions?Dinner trains? Just wondering, who pays for the restoration? Santa Fe? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, The silver bullet of the Burlington Zepher looks great, so do many othe paint scemes. The War bonnet is super! and most popular!
Now if only they could get a Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 to run again... I've been to see the No. 4935 GG1 "Blackjack" in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. She looks beautiful, but it's sad seeing her cooped up in the museum when she could be riding the rails again...
Former SP F units. They left the modified snow plows on along with non standard horns and unfortunately have the ditch lights on them as well as the RPCX initials. Can't do much about the initials other than make them smaller.
A kid that old has no business running around a moving loco. I was taught how to be safe around trains at a early age because I lived next to a switching yard. Had to cross the tracks often to go places. Parents would have never let me do that.
When they do a restoration do they install new diesel engines and generators, and new electronic or to they restore and rebuild what is there? Thank you in advance.
I guess it would depend on how good a shape the original equipment is. Right here it sounds like the old 567 diesels with the Roots blowers have been fixed up.
I had a model freight train with a santa fe warbonnet locomotive .it almost looks the same as the one in this video.the only difference is mine only had one headlight ,and on both sides of the locomotive had round sie vents,or windows where the power plant of the locomotive would be located at
anyone know the horns used on these? Kind of a very low pitched horn, like a fog horn. It can be heard in the theme opening of the old "Fugitive" TV series.
What's the story behind this? Are the F-7s going to see revenue service or any kind? Or will they be used for excursion only? Surely, they're not just for museum display, not after being restored to running condition(?). Who knows, please?
They made a few special excursions since being restored,but nothing this year.The museum is having a Polar Express event,but I don't know if they are using the F-7s for power.They do not have a working steam locomotive.
These remind me of an N Scale Mini-trix F9 painted up to look like Santa Fe F7's. They are old SP F Units now painted into the Santa Fe Warbonnet. Not real crazy about them. RickH.
Rick Howland - If it were a gift to you and you had a very nice place to keep it, I am assuming you would not turn it down, or does it bother you that much? Me, I would take it. :)
+Blaine Bugaski A good number of F's received different horns later on in their lives, particularly the passenger units. The Santa Fe put S3Ls on some of their passenger units and Western Pacific for example put five chime M5 horns on their California Zephyr FP7's
According to the museum's website, the horns, along with other parts, were salvaged from the museum's previous Texas Limited F7's, which, unfortunately, corroded in the midst of Hurricane Ike.
g bridgman I'm with you on this to man I think they need to take the ditch lights off the F units that they've already put on them and just stick with the Mars light I think it does it mighty fine job it's work fine for years itsy the engine coming down the tracks that Mars light and he said you could see that thing for hundreds of miles he said nowadays when he sees a train coming the ditch light don't shine as far as that Mars I did years ago and he was a kid so what they did was ruin it I'm all for with you good job hope a lot more people get the picture and the railroad companies get the picture to quit coughing up ditch lights on these old classic F units and the ones that they already put the ditch lights on need to take them back off and put the engine back to its original look thanks love your message hope you love mine too see if we can get more people involved and solve this problem
@@ethanpeters9827 Maybe the only thing worse is putting them on steam locomotives. That happens, too. I see other comments on this thread from guys who don't like them on vintage diesels.
Both need the plows changed out, remove the horrid horns and replace, get rid of those horrid ditch lights and the HEP exhaust systems on the roof. Otherwise, not too bad.
Follow your requests, and they will be confined to a museum, and never allowed on the road, unless piloted by a more modern, and legal unit. Your choice.
Are the two blue/cream cars ex American Orient Express? (Cars now have Creative Charters on their sides). Does anyone know what happened to the cars of the AOE that once were parked in California?
I think they ruined the F units when they went ahead and mounted ditch lights on the front of them these engines never had ditch lights on them and they never should even ask the railroads have a ball that says every engine should be equipped with Ditch lights nowadays I think that should be right except for the F unit should stay the way they were years ago they look so much better that way gives it more classic look I think it's so stupid when they put the ditch lights on there that is ruined the look of the engines they were never made to have ditch lights than ever had its lights on back then and they shouldn't have ditch lights on now I think somebody should say something about that the railroad practical it is ruined the classic looking engine my car won't up some lights on the bottom of it weren't there originally who's with me
The F originally meant fourteen as in fourteen hundred horsepower.They also made E units which were longer and were eighteen hundred horsepower thus the e unit designation.
For whatever reason they tend to go way to deep red and yellow. Original warbonnets had a more subdued color tone that balanced well with the silver. The gold was more towards a cream yellow. Besides that, the real point is that unless these are FTs or F3s, since they are F units they should be BLUE BONNETS. Duh......
@ I KNOW. That was the very first Santa Fe paint scheme that came on FTs. It was adjusted and even became Yellow Bonnets for a time which also was a great paint scheme. I would think however that 99% of the Santa Fe RR brand comes from that CHIEF WARBONNET scheme which is what I guess everyone wants. I will do a research and see if I can find anything. I like that scheme best on F and the Warbonnet looked best on Alco PA's. It came in several versions. The FTs arrived with blue with gold band. Later was the Blue and silver.
F Units in the 300 series on the Super Chief/Texas Chief did not have ditch lites. Most of it looked pretty good, but from a restored or historical point of view, it is bogus.
Don Smith They didn't have snow plows either, those should have been eliminated during the rebuild. The FRA mandates the ditch lights, so, the operator must live with it and comply or park it in a museum.
