Friday, March 07, 2014

An Athearn model of an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad early 1970's era Phase 1 EMD CF 7 light roadswitcher diesel electric locomotive.

I recently purchased this Athearn model of an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Phase 1 EMD CF 7 light roadswitcher diesel electric locomotive.

I had my Santa Fe locomotive shown here modified with the addition of a Soundtrax Tsunami sound decoder, and it sounds great!

The prototype Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad had a large fleet of aging EMD first generation model F 7 cab unit diesel locomotives on their roster, and eventually, their use was limited in daily freight train operations, due to a lack of rear facing visibility. They were good on long distance freight and passenger trains, but not for transfer trains, switching locals, or anything requiring back up moves.

By 1969, the Santa Fe experimented with stripping an EMD F 7 cab unit locomotive down to the frame, refurbishing all electrical systems and rebuilding the EMD 567 prime mover. A new body was fabricated that was similar to the existing and already successful EMD GP7 and GP 9 hood unit locomotive designs, and thus was created the EMD CF7 rebuild locomotives. The CF 7 designation stands for the Santa Fe's own Cleburne Texas railroad shops where they were created and built, while the F 7 stands for the EMD model F 7 which they were rebuilt from.

This practical and useful diesel locomotive design served the Santa Fe, until retired from the roster in 1987.

Several were sold to shortline railroads and Amtrak for terminal switching operations.

Thanks.
Eddie K.

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