This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/jfuhrtrain to TrainWeb.US/jfuhrtrain.
Commemorating 31 Years of Service from the biggest of the "Big Jacks"---Santa Fe's FP45/SDFP45 Diesels
Builder: EMD; Engine: 645E; Cylinders: 20; Horsepower: 3600; Gear Ratio: 59:18; Length: 72'-4"; Wheelbase: 45'-0"; Trucks: C-C, High-mount brake cylnders
For 31 years, these six-axle (C-C) locomotives were flagships of the Santa Fe railroad. First purchased in 1967 to replace aging first generation diesels on Santa Fe's streamlined passenger trains, their muscle was transferred to freight duties with the advent of Amtrak in 1971, except for the ocassional business train or railfan excursion. They continued to serve the Santa Fe on into the BNSF merger. They were the most rebuilt, renumbered and repainted locomotives in the Santa Fe diesel fleet during that period. They lived through the 1970 renumbering, the transition from passenger service to freight duties, the evolution of the blue & yellow warbonnet livery, eventual rebuild and modernization in the early 1980s, and the ill-fated pre-merger SPSF "Kodachrome" paint job. Finally, for the last decade of service, from 1989 through 1998, they were once again painted in the Red & Silver warbonnet scheme, this time with the large, Cooper Black "Santa Fe" emblazoned on each side in Santa Fe's famous red paint. Serving as the proud flagships of the Superfleet, they were once again called upon to lead Santa Fe's premium service offerings.
The following timetable details the progression of these 3600 horsepower behemoths through a succession of eleven (!) different incarnations. The vertical axis is an approximate timeline, with each row in the chart representing a particular incarnation. Each of the right-hand columns represents a particular locomotive as it passed through time. Most of the units skipped one or more incarnations; these are represented by vacancies {"miss"} in the particular row involved. At the end, the ultimate disposition of each of the units is detailed; all of the remaining units have been donated to various museums by the BNSF. As more details become available, I will update the chart If you can help with this effort, please E-MAIL me.
The FP45 units were originally delivered with
ATS shoes (that permitted operation at passenger train speeds) steam generators,
and a "can" antenna centered on the cab roof. The steam generators
were all removed as the units transitioned to primarily freight duties.
When the units were rebuilt to SDFP45 in the early 1980s, they left the
shops with modifications to their headlight arrangements, new rooftoop
air conditioners, rotating beacons and Sinclair antennas on raised ground-plane
platforms. Additional changes occurred as the units were shopped duting
the 1980s; this included addition of the "baby Sinclair" antennas (they
communicate with the "FRED"
units that replaced cabooses at the end of most of Santa Fe's trains),
and movement of the horn toward the rear of the unit. As a result
of these changes taking place gradually during the 1980s, each unit took
on a diferent "personality" during that period, and railroad modelers need
to have photos of each unit they model if they want to make sure that they
capture the locomotive's unique look for the period. For example,
look for the units that received yellow air conditioners as you peruse
the photos. (These shop swaps have been going on for quite some time--there
is a photo from 1968 of an SD45 sporting a silver radiator fan from an
original 100-class FP45 that can be found in Joe McMillan's Route of
the Warbonnets.) If you find a photo with a blue fan on a silver
unit, let me know also.
| The Eleven Liveries |
|
||||||||
|
FP45 EMD Chassis Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1: Original Red/Silver As Delivered Dec 1967 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2: Red/Silver General Renumbering Mar 1970 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3: Blue & Yellow Trim July 1971-March1972 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4: Blue & Yellow Warbonnet Nov 72-Dec76 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
first two
rebuilds with old numbers
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
| 5: Rebuilt by Santa Fe Shops to SDFP45 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 6: Blue & Yellow Warbonnet SDFP45 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 7: Pre-merger "Kodachrome" 1986 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 8: Blue & Yellow Warbonnet pre-1989 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
| 9: 100 Class--1989 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 10: 5990 Class |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 11: 90 Class |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dates
Donated Sold
Scrapped
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disposition
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide, by Jerry Pinkepank, Kalmbach Books, 1973, 1974, 1978 & 1980.
|
|
|
|
|
Wrecked & repaired 1978 |
|
|
Initial warbonnet had "hollow" "cigar band" |
|
|
Two units wrecked and scrapped |
|
|
Sold 1995 to Wisconsin Central, Repainted in WC livery as WC6652 |
|
|
Donated to Oklahoma Railway Museum, Oklahoma City, OK |
|
|
Donated to Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL |
|
|
Donated to Great Plains Transportation Museum, Wichita, KS |
|
|
Donated to Western America Railroad Museum, Barstow, CA |
|
|
Donated to Age of Steam Railroad Museum, Dallas, TX |
|
|
Donated to Orange Empire Railway Museum, Perris, CA |
|
|
Only unit to appear in all eleven incarnations |
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For more photos & information, browse 
Some links in these individual pages are referenced in and
copied from Qstation's ATSF Index to ABPR Archives.
Data for this page was developed by consulting a number of sources, including:
The Contemporary Diesel Spotter's Guide, by Louis A Marre and Jerry Pinkepank, Kalmbach Books, 1989..
Santa Fe's Diesel Fleet, by Joe McMillan, Chatham Publishing Co., 1975.
Santa Fe Motive Power, by Joe McMillan, McMillan Publications, 1985.
Model Railroader Cyclopedia-Volume 2 Diesel Locomotives, compiled by Bob Hayden, Kalmbach Books, 1980.
SPSF Motive Power--1986, by Joseph W. Shine, Four Ways West publications, 1986.
Santa Fe 1988 Motive Power Pictorial, by Joseph W. Shine, Four Ways West publications, 1988.
BNSF web site
Santa Fe Super Fleet Photo Archive FP45 Photos
Rick'sTrain Pictures
Bruce Sebring's Web site, includes a page on the Santa Fe SDFP45 locomotives
