Can't go forever without posting this classic image. From Jack Delano's trip west on the Santa Fe system while on assignment for the United States Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, at Argentine, Kansas, March 1943. Library of Congress Collection.
What a great photo, r_i_straw! I just bought a book on Jack Delano's photography, and I am enjoying it immensely.
.... and to think that Delano shot these on Kodachrome with an ASA of 10. Extraordinary work for sure.
The El Capitan #21. With 13 cars the train is doing about 25 MPH. Photographed near Wootton, Colorado on Raton Pass. April 9, 1944. Otto Perry collection. Denver public library collection. A larger image of the same shot.
Santa Fe E6 #14 in Holiday, KS on November 27th, 1946. Note one of the first Santa Fe E units behind it. It would be rebuilt the following year to an E8m. Charles H. Kerrigan photo.
That wouldn't happen until 1953, the same year as the E-1B behind it. The E-1A units were rebuilt as E-8M cab units, but like the three E-1B models, the 1 and 2611 (formerly 1A, shown), despite having cabs (again in that case, you need a program to keep track of when that particular unit had two cabs, one cab, or no cab at all), were rebuilt as boosters. One (1L) was a little less confusing; started with two cabs, had one removed almost immediately, had the other raised a foot or two a few years later. A B and a Beep. A Baldwin switcher repowered and retrucked hostles an SD45-2B, rebuilt to improve its dynamic braking.
Yeah, I got my dates confused. I guess 1948 was when "Andy" (1A at that time) was rebuilt in Topeka to a road switcher.
Another photo to add to the "database" that show Santa Fe cabooses running cupola toward the rear. At the summit of Cajon Pass, California. Chard Walker photo. Steven Priest collection.
Do my eyes deceive me - or is that caboose built on top of a Cushioned Underframe, with inches (or a foot) of drawbar travel.
Oh yeah, Santa Fe wanted to keep their crews in comfort when the hoggers would slam them around. This photo shows a better view. Ignore the N Scale Rapido style coupler being evaluated.
By the 1900s, the Santa Fe preferred to buy their locomotives from Baldwin. However they did roster a number of steam locomotives from other manufacturers. This ALCO Schenectady product was built for the New York Central as #2909 in 1907. It was later picked up by the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient and numbered 69. The KCM&O was acquired by the Santa Fe in 1929. Here it has been overhauled in the Albuquerque shops and is on the transfer table in March of 1943. Jack Delano photo. Library of Congress collection.
Santa Fe perhaps had the finest looking Bi-Centennial units fielded by all railroads. I loved them at the time and still do 45 years later.
I posted a cropped portion of this image on another thread. It is a Jack Delano photo taken somewhere west of Kansas City, Kansas in March of 1943 at a yard next to a huge grain elevator complex. The large tif image downloaded from the Library of Congress shows lots of detail when you zoom in. At the left of the elevator silos you can see a Santa Fe steam locomotive working behind some cars. Looks like some stock cars and a few PFE refers behind it.
4-8-2 Mountain Class (Baldwin 1921) pulling #20, The Chief at 35 MPH with Fisher's Peak in background. West of Trinidad, Colorado on December 3, 1937. Otto Conrad Perry photo. Denver Public Library Digital Collection.
