EMD F Units With Dual Freight And Passenger Designation

Discussion in 'Diesel General' started by pbender, Jul 19, 2010.

  1. pbender

    pbender Member Frisco.org Supporter

    A while ago, I purchased a Southwestern Division timetable dated September 18,1965.

    I was looking through this today, and I noticed something interesting in one of the tables in the back related to which F units could be used on passenger trains.

    The following F units were designated for FRT. PASS. Service:

    FP7As 5040-5051
    F3B 5117
    F7Bs 5127-5139
    F9Bs 5140-5152

    I knew that some of the F7Bs were equipped with steam lines for passenger service, as were the FP7As.

    I can understand designating the F9Bs as passenger engines, since they were delivered after the FP7As, but does anyone know the story behind why F3B 5117 is the only F3 (A or B) that was designated for passenger service?

    Paul
     
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  2. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Paul,

    I do not know the why or the when, but I have a pocket diagram for SLSF 5117 that notes it is acceptable for freight or passenger service.

    I guess for some reason they added steam lines to it. I don't think it came that way from EMD.

    This unit was the last of the Frisco F3B's.

    Ken
     
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  3. Karl

    Karl 2008 Engineer of the Year Frisco.org Supporter

    The February 10, 1953 diagram book lists the F3B as a freight-only unit.

    By June 15, 1956, the River Division ETT 39A lists the 5117 as the only F3B as suitable for freight or passenger service. Converting this unit to dual service created an even 20 B units configured with a through steam lines.

    As to why a F3B was selected verses a F7B may have been a matter of what was on hand in the shop at the time.
     
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  4. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    I have a 9/1/53 diagram that lists F3B SLSF 5117 as freight only.

    So, it was converted with steam pipes for passenger service sometime after 9/1/53 and before Karl's diagram date of 6/15/56.

    Ken
     
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  5. pbender

    pbender Member Frisco.org Supporter

    I was going to ask about 20 units, but then I realized that the last group of F9Bs, SLSF 5145-5152, were delivered after the timetable you note above.

    These are listed separately in the timetable I have in front of me, but all of the F9Bs were apparently equipped with steam heat and signal lines as they are all listed for freight or passenger service.

    Paul
     
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  6. john

    john FRISCO.org Supporter

    To narrow the range a little more, Central Division ETT Number 39, effective May 9, 1954, lists unit 5117 as FRT. PASS.
     
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  7. pbender

    pbender Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Well that gets us down to a 9 month time frame for the conversion.

    Between September 1953 and May 1954.

    Paul
     
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  8. Karl

    Karl 2008 Engineer of the Year Frisco.org Supporter

    Paul's question about the SLSF 5117 as a dual service unit got the wheels turning, and it prompts this question.

    Why equip any of the F-unit Bs, and especially the late-arriving F9Bs with through steam lines?

    I have listed the extent of Frisco passenger service as it entered 1947, and I carried it through to very early 1955 in order to show that by 1950, it should have been obvious that the trend in passenger traffic was downward. By 1952, the Frisco had 75 units capable of handling passenger traffic, and it might be argued that the railroad over-bought with regard to passenger and dual service locomotives.

    Why carry things 15 units further and add the steam lines to the covered wagons?

    Granted, it was a low-cost solution, but in hindsight it seems unnecessary. As I mulled this over, I wondered if the Frisco was caught short of power to handle troop trains during the Korean War, and over compensated after the conflict ended in 1953.

    Any thoughts?


    Passenger Locomotives
    E7A (EA7)...6 units.....Built March 1947................Regeared to 85 mph
    E8A.............17 units....Built February-June 1950...Geared to 85 mph

    Dual Service Locomotives - Steam Generator-Equipped
    FP7A.....12 Units.....Built December 1950-February 1951....65 mph
    GP7L*...54 Units.....Built February 1950-January 1952........65 mph
    *SLSF 500-514 originally had steam connections on rear only

    Dual Service Locomotives - Through Steam Line Only
    F3B......1 Unit.......Built June 1948...........................65 mph
    F7B*...14 Units.....Built June 1951-October 1951....65 mph
    F9B.....15 Units.....Built January 1954-April 1957....65 mph
    * 1953 diagram states that these units were "equipped with steam end connections for use with FP7 loco's in passenger service."
     
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  9. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Karl,

    Nice summary.

    Regarding the obvious excess of passenger capable power, I suspect the reasoning was two-fold.

    First, as you suggest, many of the Korean War era troop movements were powered by other than the E's - FP7A, B-units and GP7's. Remembering the demands of the WW2 era, and being in the cold war mentality, they might have decided to make sure they had the capability, since the cost was low.

    Second, railroad managements have never been accused of being real forward thinking types. They might not have been ready to accept the obvious downward trend in passenger traffic.

    Dunno. In hindsight, it was a waste of money.

    Ken
     
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  10. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Karl, an excellent and useful summary of data.

    The Federal-Aid Highway Act was still 3 years away from the Korean Armistice agreement. If the Frisco was short on passenger power for troop trains before this time, and without a shred of pavement poured for the Interstate Highway System in place yet, combine that with a lack of foresight and/or strategic vision, it makes sense to be prepared by equipping units for dual service.

    Not really related, but at a National Association of College Broadcaster's Convention in 1993, I recall a prominent industry individual forecasting that "AM radio [would] be dead in 5-10 years." :)
     
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  11. TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020)

    TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020) Passed Away July 15, 2020 Frisco.org Supporter

    The "Federal Highway Act" didn't make much of a dent in anything until about 1960, except for roads being torn up everywhere.

    Much worse back then, no matter how much people bitch these days! I-44 west of Springfield toward Joplin wasn't decent until about 1962.

    Tom
     
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  12. gbmott

    gbmott Member

    Karl

    I'm really curious about the footnote stating that SLSF 500-514 were delivered with steam connections at the rear only.

    Was this a notation in a Diagram Book?

    I have trouble understanding why anyone would go to all the expense of installing a steam generator, water tanks, etc., and stopping short of piping to the front end. This effectively meant you could only operate as a single unit in passenger service. Strange.

    Clearly this situation didn't last very long but I'm sure curious how it came to be in the first place.

    SLSF 508.jpg

    Gordon
     
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  13. gbmott

    gbmott Member

    I'm on a scanning roll, so here are a couple more.

    Throughout the 50's and early 60's it was not unusual for No 709-710, The Meteor connection, to have extra Pullmans in troop service related to Fort Chaffee. There were still occasional troop trains that operated on the Missouri Pacific all the way into the fort, but in later years it tended to more often be two or three cars added to the regular train.

    This would tax the ability of a single FP7A, both in terms of tractive effort over the hill but also of capacity of the water tank to supply steam. So it was normal to add a second unit, always a GP7L that was on hand in Fort Smith.

    I don't know that it justifies the number of generator-equipped units that were acquired, but it did mean that the passenger GP7s could circulate freely in regular freight service and did not have to be restricted to where they could be readily available if needed for passenger protection. For fun, included too is the only time I saw multiple F' units on No 710,

    For some reason the were running twelve extra cars, 11 heavyweight Pullmans plus Alexander Doniphan, the former Texas Special diner, which normally would have been a special train.

    The combination of FP7A/F9B/FP7A looks pretty classy, don't you think?

    Gordon
     

    Attached Files:

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  14. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Gordon,

    Great shots! Thanks for posting.

    Not only the FP7A-F9B-FP7A ABA, but love the shots of SLSF 508 with steam belching and the set of three GP7s led by SLSF 613.

    Neat - the Frisco in its diesel era prime!

    Ken
     
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  15. gbmott

    gbmott Member

    Thanks Ken,

    But we need to be sensitive to the likes of Don Wirth who will argue that the Frisco's prime peaked about 1945!

    Actually I am somewhat sympathetic with that view also. Ihose of us who are old enough :eek: to have actually seen a lot of SLSF steam won't ever quite get over it.

    As for the photos I posted, let it be a lesson to the young folks out there. With the exception of the three F units, which I knew was special, the other shots were just ordinary occurrences that I didn't give any particular thought to at the time.

    The moral is that what is ordinary today will seem much less so when it is no longer around, so take pictures of ordinary things while you can.

    I wish I had taken more photos of things other than locomotives as that proves interesting later also.

    Gordon
     
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  16. TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020)

    TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020) Passed Away July 15, 2020 Frisco.org Supporter

    Nice shots Gordon! I

    like the Geeps with all the extended stacks.

    Tom
     
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  17. Karl

    Karl 2008 Engineer of the Year Frisco.org Supporter

    Gordon,

    Thanks for posting those pics.

    The covered wagon consist is a real gem.

    The comment about the rear steam connection only did come from a diagram.

    Please see the following.

    http://www.frisco.org/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=11493&d=1279981772

    I wonder if the reason for doing this was all about the notion that the railroads still viewed diesels as literal replacements for steam. The 4300s, 4400s, and 4500s equal a F unit A-B-B-A set, the 4100s and 4200s equal a FA-FB-FA set and the 1200s and 1300s equal a GP7.

     
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  18. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Gordon,

    Fair point!

    Let me modify my statement - "the Frisco in its diesel era prime!"

    99.44% or more of my Frisco experience was during "diesel time". I really do wish I would have paid more attention as a little kid to the final years of Frisco steam. From what I have read and seen in pictures, and from what Don, you, Joe and others have described, it was pretty neat. Railroads were much more interesting then.

    My only memory of Frisco steam, and it is a faint one, is a backyard picnic one summer in the late 1940's at friends of my grandparents who lived on what might have been Frisco Boulevard in Webster Groves or Glendale or maybe somewhere in Kirkwood or Shrewsbury. Their yard backed up to a railroad.

    A train came along, an eastbound, behind steam. Don't recall if it was passenger or freight, or what type it was. All I remember about it was that it was impressive, made good noise, and it had a red number board under its headlight.

    Ta da!

    Ken
     
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  19. Those dual services locomotive things I have been looking for before I found this neat 2010 chat F units with passenger designation discussion.

    Diesel General' started by pbender, Jul 19, 2010.

    I had been looking at the following and other websites.


    http://condrenrails.com/frisco.html,
    http://condrenrails.com/Frisco Catalog/Frisco_Loco_Pixs.htm ,
    http://condrenrails.com/Frisco Catalog/F-Units-5000-series.htm ,
    https://www.american-rails.com/emd-f7.html ,
    http://condrenrails.com/Frisco Catalog/FP-7s.htm ,
    http://www.thedieselshop.us/Data EMD FP7.HTML ,


    All that led me to Mike's Frisco diesel chart with ~30 notes. It would be nice to update Mike's diesel list dated December 29, 2002, as well has having tanks & steam generator (SG) "Xs" added after various locomotives models listed on the chart.

    http://condrenrails.com/Frisco/Frisco_Diesels.htm .

    By adding a few SG "Xs" after each diesel FP7A, F3B 5117, F7B, F9B and by adding a new short statement at the chart page's bottom at the Note SG: and/or adding a short statement under the paragraph about "Oddities": in order to address this "SG Topic" and "dual Freight-Passenger abilities".

    On the web site it states: "Errors (I say additions to) in this roster are the sole responsibility of its author. Mike Condren, December 29, 2002." Also Arkansas Boston Mountains Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society maintains Mike's website under his guidance.


    http://condrenrails.com/Frisco/Frisco_Diesels.htm

    At the following site technical data & information about FP7 is available.

    http://www.thedieselshop.us/Data EMD FP7.HTML

    Perhaps that data could be reviewed, and see if that source states add anything else useful to Mike's lists or his other lists and/or information to be added to the frisco.org's FP7, F7, F3 files?

    https://www.american-rails.com/emd-fp7.html 's
     
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