10-12-2011, 09:44 AM
I think the Gp7 would likely have been painted with the "blue & yellow warbonnet" scheme by 1980. I think the Gp30's were probably used both for local switching as well as some road service by 1980, and I think at that time it would have been rebuilt to a Gp30u. Nothing changed on the outside of the body when they were rebuilt, they just up graded the prime mover to Gp35 specs, so that the Gp30u would be a Gp35 with a
Gp30 body. In the pictures the locomotives on Cajon pass that you thought were Gp38 are probably Gp39-2. The Santa Fe bought over 300 Gp39-2's in every phase, but the only Gp38-2s that they had were the ones that they got when they bought the TP&W. Since the Gp38-2s were not turbocharged and only rated at 2000 hp, I think they were relegated to local service immediately after acquisition. If used at all on mainline freights it would be on the plains between Texas & Chicago, not over Cajon.
Gp30 body. In the pictures the locomotives on Cajon pass that you thought were Gp38 are probably Gp39-2. The Santa Fe bought over 300 Gp39-2's in every phase, but the only Gp38-2s that they had were the ones that they got when they bought the TP&W. Since the Gp38-2s were not turbocharged and only rated at 2000 hp, I think they were relegated to local service immediately after acquisition. If used at all on mainline freights it would be on the plains between Texas & Chicago, not over Cajon.