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Reply to "Fairbanks Morse Trainmaster - Santa Fe Models?"

Originally Posted by Rusty Traque:
Originally Posted by phillyreading:

Have you checked on www.wikipedia.com to see if the Santa Fe bought that model from Fairbanks Morse? Type in railroads or Fairbanks Morse, as FM made the units.

 

Far as I know the FM Trainmaster was mainly an eastcoast engine, but I am not 100% positive on that. I know eastcoast railroads had many of the FM Trainmasters, CNJ and Reading Lines.

 

Lee Fritz

Why check Wikipedia?

 

The answer was already given.

 

And the answer is zero.

 

Southern Pacific was the only western U.S. railroad to roster Train Masters.

 

Rusty

Rusty is 100% correct regarding the Southern Pacific being the only western railroad to roster them. 

 

Originally they bought them for use on freight hauls between El Paso and Los Angeles, but ultimately they found they were ill-suited for the dry, sandy, high winds encountered along that route.  They relocated them to the Bay Area where they had the advantage of a labor pool that specialized in opposed-piston engine maintenance and repair, and they tried them out in commuter train service between San Francisco and San Jose, which they did very well due to their ability to accelerate quickly and could haul more cars behind them than their passenger Geeps, which was desirable to keep up with rush-hour service and stay on schedule.

 

Occasionally they also did freight duty while in the Bay Area too.  Ultimately, when F-M left the locomotive manufacturing business, the SP's Trainmasters' days were numbered, and SP's acquisition of SDP45s to replace them was the final nail in the coffin.  All their F-Ms were retired by May 1975, and all were subsequently scrapped.

 

It's interesting to note that although the SDP45s were plenty powerful, Southern Pacific had to do some extensive electrical modifications to them in order for them to match the quick acceleration of the Trainmasters.

Last edited by John Korling

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