Craig, you gotta know I love F7s cause I think you've seen the shot of me in front of 306L. Not only that, but 301L was "born" the same month I was! Nice shooting.
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When built the B unit would have been 301C, i.e. the ABBA unit would have been 301A, 301B, 301C, and 301L. The L stood for locomotive. The B units had the steam generators.
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To clarify Marty's comment ... Santa Fe's Fs were purchased in 3 or 4 units sets. The A-B-B sets were numbered 300L (an A-unit), 300A (a B-unit) and 300B (another B-unit). The A-B-B-A sets were numbered 16L (an A-unit), 16A (a B-unit) and 16B (another B-unit) and 16C (the other A-unit). However, these sets did not remain in unbroken sets of solid numbers for long, and that is why I cannot speculate upon the roadnumber of the B behind this A-unit. In fact, if could even be a late-phase F3B - the Santa Fe A-B set at the California State Railroad Museum are numbers 347C (an F7A) and 347B (an F3B!). This is because many of Santa Fe's Fs were renumbered - sometimes two times - and that is how the 300 set (300L, 300A and 300B) later acquired another A-unit (300C), which was built as 46C. So, to sum up ... Any Santa Fe F-unit with a number that ends in L or C are A-units, and any that end if A or B are B-units. And the L does not show up in the numberboards (as in this photo), yet the C does. (The L does show up in the 2" number near the engine's rear, and also there is a small L - or C - in the vertical yellow stripe under the "cigar band" nose logo.) I hope this isn't too confusing...
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| Posted by on September 3, 2011 | |
Nice, Craig
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