# Santa Fe diesel use



## FreedomDoc (Aug 10, 2014)

I was born in Guthrie, OK in 1951. The (then) AT&SF mainline runs right thru there; my dad used to take me to do train watching, once we even got to sit in the cab of an (F3 or F7, not sure now) and blow the horn (I was maybe 4 at the time).

A lot of rail enthusiasts really like steam power. I always knew Santa Fe got into Diesels early on (by 1950 they were completely converted over to all Diesel locomotives, at a time when many prototype railroads were still running lots of steam). Funny how little kids influence this; for Chrismas when very young my dad got me a Lionel train set, with a steam engine -- I complained that I had never seen steam and wanted a Diesel ('cos that is all I had ever seen!). So next Christmas I got another train set, this time with a Diesel loco (indeed, all decked out in Santa Fe warbonnet garb.)

I never knew what prompted Santa Fe to go all out for Diesel, but I read up on it and it really is not hard to figure out if you think about it. Santa Fe mainline goes through a large amount of SW desert, with not much water around -- if you are going to run lots of steam power you will need lots of water on the route. Diesels do not need water nearly that much so it was really a no-brainer for Santa Fe. I suppose much the same would apply to Southern Pacific...


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

That's an interesting analysis. I was born in 1947, and I just cannot remember seeing steam on the CB&Q line that came through here. I do recall a freight train crash near here somewhere in the early 50s, and it was a steamer. A bunch of cattle got killed when the boiler released steam onto them. But I can't recall seeing steam on any trains that passed through. As a kid we took a couple trips to St. Louis. I don't know what years those were, but they were both diesel.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I think a lot of people like steam power because of all the visible moving parts.
A diesel goes by and you see nothing moving. I was born (1950) and lived in west Virginia
till I was 5. I do remember seeing steam engines. Mainly sitting in the yards. I
remember the smoke rising from them. I am thinking they were C&O engines.
Probably working coal trains. I think a few things did in the steam engine. The
water you mentioned. Seems like I read some of those steamers had to stop every
50 miles for water. The steamers required a lot more maintenance. You never see
pictures of the train crew with oil cans oiling all the moving parts on a diesel. 
Steamers were thought to be very dirty. Most of that smoke was just steam. But
they were thought to be dirty to the air.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

In 1955, when I was just a toddler, my family lived in Oreland, PA a few hundred feet from the Plymouth Branch of the Reading Rail Road. Supposedly, the only Reading steamers left at that time were T1s, but I’m sure I saw some steam switchers on the line. Maybe they were engines that the Reading kept in reserve in case a diesel wasn’t available.

Lack of a good water source was surely a big reason for Santa Fe to go diesel. But even railroads that had good water supplies and made their living hauling coal went diesel in a hurry once they figured out how much money they saved.

I like both steam and diesel on my layout. Like mopac said, steamers have a lot more action than diesels. And diesels have a lot more color than steamers.

For real engines, diesels are pretty cool, but I would rather see a steamer.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Steam locomotives are definitely more interesting to work on as compared to diesels, but they can be finicky and involve a lot more care than their modern counterpart. Obviously as mentioned, water and fuel supplies were also big factors.

A steam locomotive for instance takes hours to warm up from a cold boiler. Where I work, we usually try to do it in a minimum of 4-6 hours depending on the size of the engine. Much larger locomotives would obviously take (or should take) much longer. The whole point of the long time is to avoid thermal stresses on the boiler as things heat up. If you go too fast, things start to break and leak, so the slower the better. I don't think this was quite as big of a worry back in the day as they had shops dedicated to boiler work, so a couple hour warm up probably did happen occasionally in emergency situations. In many cases, locomotives being repaired wouldn't even be allowed to cool, so they could be put back in service quicker. Imagine working in a firebox that's still almost as hot as when it was running a few hours before...

We don't necessarily like it when our steam locomotives misbehave, but it is a good opportunity to show visitors to the museum why they went out of favor on the rare occasion it has to fill in. We usually run our diesel for a few hours until another locomotive can be fired up, or just finish out the day with it if it's later in the afternoon. It takes less than 15 minutes to get the diesel checked out and started. Building up air pressure for the brakes is about the longest part of the process. A big difference when compared to firing up a cold steam locomotive.

Steam locomotives get inspected every night in our shop in addition to several months of work over our winter off season, while the diesel basically gets its oil change and whatever maintenance it needs over a couple weeks of our winter work time and it's good to go for the rest of the year (in most cases).


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## FreedomDoc (Aug 10, 2014)

Well, thanks everyone for your input! No matter how much one knows about this stuff there is always more to be learned. For example, I was wrong about Santa Fe being 100% diesel in 1950 (though they almost were, as far as day to day running). They actually were credited with being 100% diesel in 1954 but when they were super busy they still called upon their 125 or so steam locomotives even in 1957! (How is THAT being 100% diesel, I would like to know!)

Anyway, I am going back to the HO forum now, I want to build a new layout now that I am the average age of a model railroader (64). I am very busy being a college professor in math and computer science and also helping out with my wife's businesses (gas station and laundromat).

I had an HO layout when I was 12; it was only a 4x6 layout but it did use some 22" curves (even at age 12 I knew about the need for larger radius curves).
Well when I have time I want to get back into it. I did briefly about 28 years ago early in my marriage, in N scale, but my kids were young then and they and their friends screwed up some of the equipment. So I decided that kinda stuff should be done when the kids are not around (I could try to get them interested but they all seemed to go their own way). Anyway they are not around anymore so its time for some fun!


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