| Santa Fe had visions of a company museum, and was wise enough to hang onto a variety of locomotives with that in mind. It never happened, of course, and the collection was donated to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Among those engines was an A-B set of F-units, painted in the Yellow Warbonnet colors they wore at retirement. In the late 1980s, the Santa Fe wanted to create some films promoting their upcoming Superfleet intermodal service, and the filmmakers wanted some classic Santa Fe power for some of the scenes (which would then dissolve into contemporary scenes as the train passed). The Santa Fe arranged to use the Museum’s Fs, and as part of the deal, the Santa Fe would restore them cosmetically for the Museum – painting them back into the iconic red and silver Warbonnet scheme. (Interestingly, the 347C never wore the Warbonnet colors with that number, as it was repainted into the Yellow Warbonnet scheme when renumbered from it’s second number - 306C. It was originally ATSF 39C.) The Fs are seen here posing in front of the Pasadena, California, passenger station during some of that filming. These days, the Fs are back at the Museum in Sacramento, the Santa Fe is no more and this line through Pasadena is much more active, albeit with light rail vehicles, as the Los Angeles Metro Gold Line. And the restoration of these Fs was the seed that led to the repainting of Santa Fe’s FP45 into red and silver Superfleet colors, which then carried over to the roads new GP60Ms, Dash 8-40BWs, GP60Bs, Dash 8-40CWs, Dash 9-44CWs and SD75Ms. The early ‘90s were a great time to be trackside on the Santa Fe! |