ClassicTrainsMag.com 11True Color
The Santa Fe was an early and ardent buyer of Electro-Motive’s E units, receiving E1s, E3s, and E6s. The road was also
the first to go for EMD’s FT, ordering 320 A and B units in the early 1940s to haul freights over its dry, heavily graded main
line through Arizona and California. In mid-1945 the road began trying FTs on varnish — and never bought another E unit.
In this December 3, 1946, view, four-unit FT set No. 168 leads train 7, the Chicago–Los Angeles Fast Mail, at Newton, Kans.
Delivered in May 1945, the 168 was converted for passenger work in mid-1946, then reverted to freight duty at the end of
1951 as F3 and F7s took over on the Super Chief and other transcontinental limiteds. B. L. Stone, Krambles-Peterson ArchiveFTs for the Fast Mail
From the new book Classic
Railroad Scenes, available from
KalmbachHobbyStore.com.