EMD FP45
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 Santa Fe #98, now renumbered to Santa Fe #108 as of October 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||
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The EMD FP45 is a cowl unit type of C-C diesel locomotive produced in the United States by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD). It was produced beginning in 1967 at the request of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, which did not want its prestigious Super Chief and other passenger trains pulled by freight style hood unit locomotives, which have external walkways.
History and development
The EMD SDP45 was a good passenger locomotive, but to the Santa Fe Railway it did not look the part. EMD therefore designed a lightweight "cowl" body to cover the locomotive, though it did not, as in earlier cab units, provide any structural strength, which remained in the frame. The cowl provided sleeker looks, better aerodynamics at speed, and allowed the crew to enter the engine compartment en route for diagnostics and maintenance. Final drive gear ratio for passenger service was 59:18.
Orders
Santa Fe purchased nine of the locomotives (road numbers 100 through 108), and the Milwaukee Road bought five for its passenger service (road numbers 1 through 5). The Milwaukee Road units were delivered without Dynamic Braking. Reportedly, Illinois Central Railroad was considering an order for five FP45s as well (EMD order #5742, serial #s 34952-34956), but canceled it. Such low production was feasible and profitable for EMD since the locomotive was fundamentally just a re-clothed SDP45. Power, as in the SDP45, was from a V20 645E3 engine (or prime mover) developing 3,600 hp (2,680 kW).
Liveries
When Amtrak took over passenger service, the FP45s were reassigned to fast freight service, particularly Santa Fe's Super C high-speed intermodal run. They were soon repainted from their original red and silver Warbonnet scheme to the standard blue and yellow freight scheme when the steam generators were removed and they were permanently assigned to the freight pool. In June 1989, two of the units, #5992 and #5998, were repainted once more in a modified version of the Warbonnet scheme (this time, displaying Santa Fe in large, red letters "billboard"-style across the side) and re-designated as #101 and #102. The units reentered service on July 4 as part of the new "Super Fleet" — the first Santa Fe units to be so decorated for freight service. The six remaining units were thereafter similarly repainted and renumbered to 90-93 and 95-98 (the engine that would have been #94 having been wrecked and retired in 1981), and remained in this scheme (some re–lettered BNSF after the merger) until their retirement in the late 1990s, after some 30 years of service. No. 91 was sold to the Wisconsin Central in January 1995, becoming their #6652. The units purchased by the Milwaukee Road were painted to the Milwaukee's orange and black scheme after Amtrak took over passenger service.
Derivatives
A freight-only derivative, the EMD F45, was sold in greater numbers (86) to Santa Fe, the Great Northern Railway, and the Burlington Northern Railroad. Amtrak bought a similar passenger locomotive based on the 3,000 hp (2,240 kW) SD40-2, the SDP40F. The last two F45's in service were on the Montana Rail Link in the northern United States and were taken out of service in late 2006.
Withdrawal
Milwaukee Road's FP45s were all sold for scrap in 1981 and 1984. One of Santa Fe's FP45 was wrecked in 1992 on Cajon Pass, but the rest stayed in service right up until the BNSF merger in 1994, and were retired shortly after the merger.
Preservation
Those that were not wrecked in service, or sold to other railroads, are on display in museums:
- Santa Fe 90: was donated to the Oklahoma Railway Museum in Oklahoma City in a non-operational state. #90 was the last FP45 donated by the Santa Fe and had resided on a RIP track for two years before being delivered to the museum.
- Santa Fe 92: was donated to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. In 2010, volunteers restored 92's control stand so that it could control other locomotives via MU. The locomotive was moved to National Railway Equipment in Silvas, IL during July 2017, where a replacement 20-645E3 engine, AR10 alternator, and a WBO air compresssor (all purchased by the museum) were installed. This made the locomotive fully operational for the first time since at least 1997.
- Santa Fe 93: preserved at the Great Plains Transportation Museum in Wichita, Kansas.
- Santa Fe 95: preserved at the Western America Railroad Museum in Barstow, California.
- Santa Fe 97: preserved at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, Texas.
- Santa Fe 108: was donated in operating condition minus the cab's air conditioner to the Orange Empire Railway Museum at Perris, California. This locomotive has the distinction of being the last passenger locomotive ever purchased by Santa Fe. Its restoration was completed in October, 2018 and it is now in operating condition for the first time since 1997.[1]
See also
References
- Moran, Miles (1975). "And Passenger Service Too". Railroad Modeler. 5 (8): 40–47.
- Duke, Donald (1997). Santa Fe: The Railroad Gateway to the American West, Volume Two. San Marino, CA: Golden West Books. ISBN 0-87095-110-6.
- Graham-White, Sean (2002). Electro-Motive Division's Classic Cowl Units - A Color Pictorial. La Mirada, CA: Four Ways West. ISBN 1-885614-53-5.
- "5700 Order Numbers". The UNofficial EMD Homepage. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
External links
- Additional photos, specifications and information on the surviving FP45 locomotives-by Jim Fuhrman
- Santa Fe 92 at IRM as preserved at IRM
- Preservation project for Santa Fe FP-45 93 At the Great Plains Transportation Museum.