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Beep (SWBLW)
Encyclopedia
The "Beep" is a one-of-a-kind switcher
locomotive
built in 1970 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
at its Cleburne, Texas
workshops. Technically a rebuild, the Beep (a portmanteau of "Baldwin Geep," whose official designation was derived from "SWitcher, Baldwin Locomotive Works") originally entered service on the Santa Fe as a Baldwin
Model VO-1000
. Following close on the heels of its highly-successful CF7
capital rebuilding program, the company hoped to determine whether or not remanufacturing its aging, non-EMD end cab switchers by fitting them with new EMD prime movers
was an economically viable proposition. In the end, the conversion procedure proved too costly and only the one unit was modified. As of end of 2008 per Train Magazine March 2009, this locomotive was retired and stored operational at Topeka, KS. In May 2009 the unit was donated to the Western America Railroad Museum in Barstow, Calif.
sent 14 of their VO-1000s to General Motors Electro-Motive Division to have them rebuilt to SW900
specifications. Unlike the "Beep," however, these locomotives retained most of their original carbodies. The units were subsequently given the designation VO-1000m
.
Eddystone, Pennsylvania
facility in July, 1943 dressed in the Santa Fe Zebra Stripe livery and bearing #2220. In the early 1960s the unit would take on the blue and yellow Billboard paint scheme with "SANTA FE" displayed in small yellow letters above the accent stripe, as was the standard for all yard switchers. It is these colors that #2220 displayed when it was selected as a test subject. Much as with the CF7 conversions, the unit was stripped down to its bare frame, and the long hood, 1000 hp power plant, trucks
, control gear, and electrical system scrapped; only the Baldwin cab remained.
In a manner similar to the very first CF7 modification, a sixteen-cylinder EMD 567
series diesel engine
was fitted to the Baldwin's cast steel frame, which required a considerable amount of modification. A new long hood was fabricated by the shops to a GP7
pattern. The locomotive was configured in a B-B wheel arrangement and mounted atop two Blomberg B
two-axle trucks
, with all axles powered. Additionally, the unit received a state-of-the-art electrical system.
The completed Beep rolled out of the Cleburne shops in December 1970 (with one of its original Baldwin builder's plates still affixed) sporting fresh blue and yellow paint, though now the words "Santa Fe" were applied in yellow in Cooper Black
font (logotype) along the sides below the accent stripe in the style otherwise reserved for road switcher
s and other main line
locomotives. It was also assigned #2450 (the first CF7 was given #2649, with successive numbers applied in descending order) and placed in service in south Texas
.
Type-A switcher trucks; being several tons heavier than a typical GP7 imparted a higher tractive effort which was helpful when switching long cuts of cars. The Beep spent many years in lease service performing switching duties for the Port Terminal Railroad Association
in Houston
. In August, 1974 the unit was re-designated as #1160 as part of a general locomotive renumbering scheme. It was again renumbered along with the Santa Fe's few remaining EMD switchers and assigned #1460 in January, 1977.
The Beep was transferred to Cleburne as the shop switcher in the mid-1980s, where in 1985 it was given a number of external modifications. A cab air conditioning system was added, and the rear cab windows were modified from their original Baldwin pattern to a new three-pane configuration that accommodated the use of standard window glass sizes common to many EMD locomotives. The unit was given fresh paint (the Billboard colors were maintained) and placed back in service.
SW900 #1453, the Santa Fe's last "standard" EMD switcher, was retired in 1987, thereby making #1460 the only remaining end cab switcher on the roster. The Beep continued its work at Cleburne until the shops were closed later that year. Since then, the unit has worked as a shop switcher at both the Argentine shops in Kansas City
and in Topeka, Kansas
. The locomotive was equipped with remote control equipment (RCE) in the early 1990s so that it could be operated from a distance.
After the Santa Fe merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad
in 1995 to form the BNSF Railway
, the Beep was one of only three blue and yellow units not affected by the new company's sweeping renumbering program. #1460's cab sides were affixed with a BNSF sublettering "patch" and retrofitted with a four-stack exhaust manifold. The locomotive's 35-year term of service makes it without question the longest-lived Santa Fe rebuild still active in the BNSF system.
H-10-44s
), but all of these units were subsequently scrapped when it was determined that the required modifications were not cost-effective.
Switcher
A switcher or shunter is a small railroad locomotive intended not for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been...
locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
built in 1970 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...
at its Cleburne, Texas
Cleburne, Texas
Cleburne is a city in Johnson County, Texas, United States, and a suburb of Fort Worth. According to 2007 United States Census Bureau estimates, the population is 29,050. It is the county seat of Johnson County. Cleburne is named for a Confederate General, Patrick Cleburne...
workshops. Technically a rebuild, the Beep (a portmanteau of "Baldwin Geep," whose official designation was derived from "SWitcher, Baldwin Locomotive Works") originally entered service on the Santa Fe as a Baldwin
Baldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...
Model VO-1000
Baldwin VO-1000
The Baldwin VO-1000 was a diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works between January, 1939 and December, 1946. The 236,260–242,200 lb units were powered by a normally aspirated eight-cylinder diesel engine rated at , and rode on a pair of two-axle trucks in a B-B...
. Following close on the heels of its highly-successful CF7
CF7
A CF7 is an EMD F-unit railroad locomotive that has had its streamlined carbody removed and replaced with a custom-made, "general purpose" body in order to adapt the unit for road switching duty. All of the conversions were performed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in their Cleburne,...
capital rebuilding program, the company hoped to determine whether or not remanufacturing its aging, non-EMD end cab switchers by fitting them with new EMD prime movers
Prime mover (locomotive)
In engineering, a prime mover is an engine that converts fuel to useful work. In locomotives, the prime mover is thus the source of power for its propulsion. The term is generally used when discussing any locomotive powered by an internal combustion engine...
was an economically viable proposition. In the end, the conversion procedure proved too costly and only the one unit was modified. As of end of 2008 per Train Magazine March 2009, this locomotive was retired and stored operational at Topeka, KS. In May 2009 the unit was donated to the Western America Railroad Museum in Barstow, Calif.
History
In the early 1960s the Reading CompanyReading Company
The Reading Company , usually called the Reading Railroad, officially the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and Reading Railway until 1924, operated in southeast Pennsylvania and neighboring states...
sent 14 of their VO-1000s to General Motors Electro-Motive Division to have them rebuilt to SW900
EMD SW900
An EMD SW900 is a diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between December 1953 and March 1969. Power was provided by an EMD 567C 8-cylinder engine that generated 900 horsepower...
specifications. Unlike the "Beep," however, these locomotives retained most of their original carbodies. The units were subsequently given the designation VO-1000m
Baldwin VO-1000
The Baldwin VO-1000 was a diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works between January, 1939 and December, 1946. The 236,260–242,200 lb units were powered by a normally aspirated eight-cylinder diesel engine rated at , and rode on a pair of two-axle trucks in a B-B...
.
Development
VO-1000 No. 67729 emerged from the Baldwin Locomotive WorksBaldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...
Eddystone, Pennsylvania
Eddystone, Pennsylvania
Eddystone is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,442 at the 2000 census.-Early history:The area at the mouth of Ridley Creek was first called "Tequirassy" by Native Americans. The land was owned by Olof Persson Stille, one of the early settlers from New...
facility in July, 1943 dressed in the Santa Fe Zebra Stripe livery and bearing #2220. In the early 1960s the unit would take on the blue and yellow Billboard paint scheme with "SANTA FE" displayed in small yellow letters above the accent stripe, as was the standard for all yard switchers. It is these colors that #2220 displayed when it was selected as a test subject. Much as with the CF7 conversions, the unit was stripped down to its bare frame, and the long hood, 1000 hp power plant, trucks
Bogey
Bogey or Bogie may refer to:* Bogeyman, boogeyman, boogyman, or bogyman, a legendary ghost-like monster with no specific appearance** Boggart, a mischievous household spirit** Bogle, a ghost in Scottish or northern English folklore...
, control gear, and electrical system scrapped; only the Baldwin cab remained.
In a manner similar to the very first CF7 modification, a sixteen-cylinder EMD 567
EMD 567
The EMD 567 is a line of diesel engines built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division. This engine, which succeeded Winton's 201-A, was used in EMD's locomotives from 1938 until its replacement in 1966 by the EMD 645. It has a bore of , a stroke of and a displacement of 567 in³ per cylinder...
series diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
was fitted to the Baldwin's cast steel frame, which required a considerable amount of modification. A new long hood was fabricated by the shops to a GP7
EMD GP7
The EMD GP7 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between October, 1949 and May, 1954. Power was provided by an EMD 567B 16-cylinder engine which generated . The GP7 was offered both with and without control cabs, and...
pattern. The locomotive was configured in a B-B wheel arrangement and mounted atop two Blomberg B
Blomberg B
The Blomberg B was a "B" diesel locomotive truck. These trucks were the standard EMD four wheel truck from the FT up until the GP60. EMD introduced the truck in 1936. Unofficially it is named after Martin Blomberg, who joined the company the year before...
two-axle trucks
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
, with all axles powered. Additionally, the unit received a state-of-the-art electrical system.
The completed Beep rolled out of the Cleburne shops in December 1970 (with one of its original Baldwin builder's plates still affixed) sporting fresh blue and yellow paint, though now the words "Santa Fe" were applied in yellow in Cooper Black
Cooper Black
Cooper Black is a heavily weighted, old style serif typeface designed by Oswald Bruce Cooper in 1921 and released by the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler type foundry in 1922. The typeface is drawn as an extra bold weight of Cooper Old Style. Though not based on a single historic model, Cooper Black...
font (logotype) along the sides below the accent stripe in the style otherwise reserved for road switcher
Road switcher
A road switcher is a type of railroad locomotive used for delivering or picking up cars outside of a railroad yard. Since the road switcher must work some distance away from a yard, it needs to be able to operate at road speeds, it must also have high-visibility while it is switching, and it must...
s and other main line
Main line (railway)
The Mainline or Main line of a railway is a track that is used for through trains or is the principal artery of the system from which branch lines, yards, sidings and spurs are connected....
locomotives. It was also assigned #2450 (the first CF7 was given #2649, with successive numbers applied in descending order) and placed in service in south Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
In service
Train crews favored #2450 due to the superior riding qualities of its Blomberg trucks, which ran more smoothly than the original AARAssociation of American Railroads
The Association of American Railroads is an industry trade group representing primarily the major freight railroads of North America . Amtrak and some regional commuter railroads are also members...
Type-A switcher trucks; being several tons heavier than a typical GP7 imparted a higher tractive effort which was helpful when switching long cuts of cars. The Beep spent many years in lease service performing switching duties for the Port Terminal Railroad Association
Port Terminal Railroad Association
The Port Terminal Railroad Association is an American terminal railroad that operates of track at the Port of Houston in Houston, Texas....
in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. In August, 1974 the unit was re-designated as #1160 as part of a general locomotive renumbering scheme. It was again renumbered along with the Santa Fe's few remaining EMD switchers and assigned #1460 in January, 1977.
The Beep was transferred to Cleburne as the shop switcher in the mid-1980s, where in 1985 it was given a number of external modifications. A cab air conditioning system was added, and the rear cab windows were modified from their original Baldwin pattern to a new three-pane configuration that accommodated the use of standard window glass sizes common to many EMD locomotives. The unit was given fresh paint (the Billboard colors were maintained) and placed back in service.
SW900 #1453, the Santa Fe's last "standard" EMD switcher, was retired in 1987, thereby making #1460 the only remaining end cab switcher on the roster. The Beep continued its work at Cleburne until the shops were closed later that year. Since then, the unit has worked as a shop switcher at both the Argentine shops in Kansas City
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
and in Topeka, Kansas
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
. The locomotive was equipped with remote control equipment (RCE) in the early 1990s so that it could be operated from a distance.
After the Santa Fe merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad
Burlington Northern Railroad
The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996....
in 1995 to form the BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway
The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...
, the Beep was one of only three blue and yellow units not affected by the new company's sweeping renumbering program. #1460's cab sides were affixed with a BNSF sublettering "patch" and retrofitted with a four-stack exhaust manifold. The locomotive's 35-year term of service makes it without question the longest-lived Santa Fe rebuild still active in the BNSF system.
Footnote
Santa Fe had designated a handful of other non-EMD switcher locomotives for rebuilding around 1970 (including two Fairbanks-MorseFairbanks-Morse
Fairbanks Morse and Company was a manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, locomotives and industrial supplies until it was merged in 1958...
H-10-44s
FM H-10-44
The FM H-10-44 was a yard switcher produced by Fairbanks-Morse from August, 1944–March, 1950. The units featured a , six-cylinder opposed piston engine prime mover, and were configured in a B-B wheel arrangement mounted atop a pair of two-axle AAR Type-A switcher trucks, with all axles powered...
), but all of these units were subsequently scrapped when it was determined that the required modifications were not cost-effective.
See also
- CF7CF7A CF7 is an EMD F-unit railroad locomotive that has had its streamlined carbody removed and replaced with a custom-made, "general purpose" body in order to adapt the unit for road switching duty. All of the conversions were performed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in their Cleburne,...
- List of Baldwin diesel locomotives
- List of GM-EMD locomotives
- SD26SD26The SD26 is an EMD SD24 diesel locomotive that was rebuilt by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway between January 1973 and January 1978. In an effort to spare the cost of purchasing new motive power, the Santa Fe elected to expand on the success of its CF7 and other capital rebuild programs...
External links
- BNSF SWBLW roster data
- SWBLW #1460 photo gallery.