Santa Fe Southern
Santa Fe Southern is a short line railroad located in New Mexico. It is predominately a tourist railroad, but like many other tourist lines, it also handles some freight. This colorful unit is unique in the fact that it displays a leading zero as part of the road number, shown on both sides of the unit and on the number boards. SFS #07/#0927 is an ex-ATSF GP7 #2744 / GP7u #2234.
SFS FEATURES:
Central Kansas Railway
Central Kansas Railway (CKRY) was a short line railroad of approximately 900 miles of trackage, consisting of former Santa Fe trackage in Kansas and northern Oklahoma. During the year 2000, it merged with a sister company, the Kansas Southwest Railway which operated four Missouri Pacific branch lines. Owned by OmniTRAX, much of the CKRY traffic was from harvested wheat. Watco purchased all of the CKRY lines in 2001.
These units traveled well beyond Central Kansas. In 2006 and beyond CKRY #701 was frequently photographed working on the Northern Ohio & Western, a remnant of a former PRR line from Mansfield to Toledo, OH. CKRY #903 was often photographed in the Chicago area in 2000 and beyond, serving the Chicago Rail Link, along with other OmniTRAX units.
ROAD NUMBER SPECIFIC FEATURES:
Ex-ATSF patched
Patched-out Santa Fe markings, decal sheet included with various road numbers for customizing. Perfect for modeling various shortline power or your own freelanced road.
FEATURES:
PROTOTYPE AND BACKGROUND INFO:
In 1949, EMD introduced the GP7. The basic design followed most diesel switchers with the addition of a short hood instead of an end-cab. The hoods were also full height to better accommodate the diesel engine and mechanical and electrical components.
Many railroads chose to rebuild their GP7s and GP9s for continued service. Often times, it was cheaper to do this rather than purchasing brand-new locomotives. Some railroads adopted a GP7R or GP7u designation to indicate a rebuilt unit.
Santa Fe began a program in its Cleburne, TX shops to rebuild GP7s. The program was started in 1972. The high short hoods were chopped down, dynamic brakes deactivated (if present) and in some cases new cabs were installed. The prime movers were upgraded with new components. The upgraded geeps gave long service and many lasted through the BNSF merger.
GP7 SERIES LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES:
SOUND-EQUIPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE
Order Due Date: March 29, 2024
Anticipated Delivery Date: August 2025
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