The Santa
Fe assigned its locomotives to the various divisions around the system and
tracked their performance. As much as we
rail fans loved steam, the data collected by the operating and mechanical
forces showed that the diesel was an economically superior machine. Periodically, this data would be assembled
into a form that the directors and stockholders could understand and use as a
basis for making informed decisions about future expenditure plans for the
railroad. I am not sure of the precise
purpose of the Equipment Survey assembled in 1939, nor the update of 1944,
but the data included is sufficient to justify significant expenditures for new
cars and locomotives. The copies of
these two documents preserved in the California State Railroad Museum have the
unintended legacy as a gold mine, no, make that a platinum mine of information
for the Santa Fe modeler of that era.
Today’s
post will touch on some of the line and locomotive data found in the Equipment Survey. The Survey contains statements describing the
operating lines of the Santa Fe, the equipment typically assigned and it’s
capacity on each line segment. The
document covers the whole of Santa Fe’s main line system, with main lines
defined as principal freight and passenger routes. It lists the classes of locomotives
principally assigned to freight and passenger service on each segment and shows
their capacities over that segment. Of
particular interest to me is the Barstow-Oakland line. The Arizona Division controlled the
Barstow-Bakersfield segment prior to 1949.
The Valley Division controlled that segment after 1949 and the rest of
the line. Freight and Passenger
operations are presented separately in the document and the format of Eastbound
and Westbound ratings is reversed in the two sections of the original. I did not notice this initially, and had the
headers wrong on the first version of the transcription. I offer this aside as a caution to any who
may extract further information from the originals. I have transcribed the tonnage ratings and
car capacities from the original for the Barstow-Oakland line as shown for
1944. The data is also there for 1939
and would make an interesting comparison, but I have yet to do that work. For simplicity sake, I will refer to the
Barstow-Bakersfield segment as the Arizona Division and the rest of the route
to Oakland line as the Valley Division.
The Valley
Division was pretty flat with a small grade on the west end with a summit in
the tunnel just west of Glen Frazer. The
Arizona Division was a mountain and desert railroad with a significant grade
east of Bakersfield with a summit at Tehachapi with Barstow about 2000 feet
higher than Bakersfield. As such,
equipment assigned, capacities and schedules differed significantly between
these two territories. The Arizona
division employed 3700 class Mountains in passenger service to carry the
northern sections of the Scout, trains 1/2, and Grand Canyon, trains 23/24 over
the Tehachapis. They used either 3800
class 2-10-2s or four unit FT diesels to get the freight over the hill. The FTs had significantly greater hauling
capacity on Tehachapi’s mountain grades than the 3800s. Both classes were able to haul trains limited
by siding lengths down hill. The Valley
division was the province of the Pacific, not just the ocean to which the
district ran, but the Whyte classification locomotive. Where the 2-10-4 Texas, 2-10-2 Santa Fe, and
2-8-2 Mikado handled most of the freight duties on the rest of the Santa Fe, on
the Valley, the Pacific did it all.
Aside from the diesels 5, 8, & 9 assigned to the Golden Gate trains
60/61/62/63, five 3400 class Pacifics handled the Scout, Grand Canyon and extra
sections. Several 3500 class Pacifics backstopped
the 3400s and handled the extra wartime traffic. 1226, 1309 and 3500 class Pacifics were the
regularly assigned freight power moving traffic to the San Francisco Port of
Embarkation, Bay area industries, and to the inside gateway interchange with
the WP at Stockton for points in Washington and Oregon.
The
differences between the FT and steam on Tehachapi were profound with the FTs
able to carry an additional thousand tons with the same number of helpers. This and their lack of water consumption
proved their worth in the deserts and mountains. On the Valley, the differences between the
various steam classes were not profound, and the various Pacific classes had
similar ratings through the flatter territory.
You can see and down load the PDF transcription of the Barstow-Oakland
Tonnage Ratings here:
John Barry
Cameron Park, CA
4 June 2014
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