Beautifully restored to its "as delivered" appearance is Santa Fe Railway FP45 108. When the BNSF Railway retired their small fleet of FP45s, which they inherited when the Santa Fe and Burlington Northern merged twenty-five years ago, they wisely donated them – still wearing their popular "Superfleet" colors – to various railroad museums around the states served by the Santa Fe. The Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California, was the recipient of BNSF 98, the former ATSF 98, formerly ATSF 5998, ex-ATSF 102, ex-ATSF 5998 (yes, it wore that number twice!), ex-ATSF 5948, and originally ATSF 108. The museum, now renamed the Southern California Railway Museum, eventually began a program to rebuild this engine – the final passenger locomotive to be purchased by the Santa Fe – back to its 1967 appearance. This involved creating faux steam generator vents on the roof (although there is no longer a steam generator in this engine) and cleaning up the cab roof to remove the vestiges of the air conditioner that Santa Fe added, along with other cosmetic backdating. Then, a new paint job was applied, carefully restoring its "Warbonnet" paint scheme, complete with the original black roadname in the stretched Roman typeface used on the railroad’s passenger cars. This engine has quickly become a visitor favorite from among the SCRM’s collection of restored diesels – with more to come! (Southern California Railway Museum, Perris, California – June 10, 2020)
