04-05-2009, 06:07 AM
Micheal, the Gp7 & Gp9 on the Santa Fe were originally delivered in the "zebra stripe" paint scheme. They stayed in zebra stripes until about 1960 when the Santa Fe went to the blue & yellow "cigar band" scheme where the ends were yellow, the body was blue, & there was a single yellow strip going the length of the body just above the doors on both hoods. In the early 1970's they painted them in the blue & yellow warbonnet scheme, but at about the same time they went into the shops to have the short nose "chopped: and many of them if not all received the Topeka cab at that same rebuild. I don't know how many high nose Gp7s or Gp9s actually received a blue & yellow warbonnet before having their noses chopped. The Gp7s or Gp9s that were used in passenger service were generally not used on long distance "name trains" or even on regularly scheduled passenger trains as far as I know. Most pictures I've seen of them in passenger service was them pulling heavy weight cars to Del Mar for the horse racing season at the track that has always been advertised as the place where "the turf meets the surf." Santa Fe had a station and a wye for turning trains right in the Del Mar parking lot. One other set of details that needs to be added for passenger service is the steam generator details on the top of the short hood. Also I've never seen a picture of a Santa Fe Gp7 or Gp9 with both the "torpedo tubes" and dynamic brakes. That doesn't mean that they didn't have any like that, just that I have not seen pictures of any.