Santa Fe #95

The FP45 design was made at special request of the Santa Fe. The railroad liked EMD's SDP45, however it looked like a standard freight locomotive. Such a design would simply not do for the railroads prestigious passenger trains. 

So, EMD took the SDP45 and gave it a streamlined makeover in what would become known as a "cowl" design. It was painted into the railroad's famed red and silver "Warbonnet" design, one of the most recognizable paint schemes in history. Of the 14 FP45's produced, 9 were bought by the Santa Fe.

Boasting an original top speed of over 90 MPH, these locomotives had no issue pulling long and heavy passenger trains at high speed. Sporting a 20 cylinder diesel engine, it's power output was 3,600 HP. Just two of these units could replace four older 1,500 HP locomotives on a train. It also sported a steam generator in order to heat the steam heater equipped passenger cars.

95's career as a passenger locomotive would be short lived. By the early 1970s passenger rail in America was at the point of near collapse. The US government created Amtrak in 1971 as a way to save what remained of America's once great passenger rail empire. The Santa Fe would hand over all their passenger trains to Amtrak on May 1st, 1971. While the 95 and her sisters would continue to pull trains under Amtrak's control for a few years, by the mid 70s Amtrak no longer needed them and Santa Fe assigned them to full time freight service.

95 would lose its famed passenger colors in the early 70s and would be repainted into the yellow and blue freight colors of the Santa Fe. It would also lose its steam generator and would be re-geared to have a slower top speed, but better tractive effort for hauling freight. It would also receive a new number of 5945.

Post passenger life would turn out to be quite eventful for the 95. In 1978 the 95 would be involved in a wreck which required major repairs Santa Fe's San Bernardino shops. It was more extensively rebuilt in the early 80s again at San Bernardino. In the 80s the unit was again renumbered, this time to 5995. 

In 1989 it was decided that the Santa Fe needed a new and revitalized image. The railroad introduced their new "Super Fleet" campaign which brought about the return of the much beloved Warbonnet paint scheme. The FP45s were the first units to be repainted back to their original colors, now with the larger Santa Fe text on the sides. As they left the paint booth however, their numbers would become mixed up. This resulted in 5995 becoming 107 for a few months. The outline of the 107 numbering can still be seen faintly on the side of the locomotive today. It would be renumbered back to 5995 for a few weeks until finally receiving its final number of 95.

In December of 1991, 95 along with sister locomotive 97, were chosen as helper locomotives to accompany recently restored steam locomotive Santa Fe 3751. The 95 and 97 were used for dynamic braking and extra power while going over Cajon and Tehachapi passes on the recreated California Limited passenger train. 

The 95 would even find its self as the star of the 1993 comedy movie "Fatal Instinct." The 95 can be seen in a couple scenes leading a short passenger train by itself. Okay, maybe star is a bit of a stretch, but 95 is star to railfans at least. 

The 95 would even find itself with rare opportunity of once again leading a revenue passenger train herself. In 1995, 95 was temporarily assigned to Amtrak's San Joaquin after it suffered a mechanical failure, giving it one final chance to do what it was built for, haul passengers.

The Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe railroads would merge to become the modern BNSF Railway in 1996. The newly formed BNSF began shying away from older 20 cylinder power in favor of newer and more efficient locomotives. The older cowl units would be assigned to lower and lower priority trains and were starting to be placed in storage lines. Slowly, they would leave the roster and would be sent off to museums.

95 was about to meet such a fate, however at the last minute in late 1997, BNSF found itself in the midst of a power shortage. This resulted in the 95 being pulled from the storage line and once again pulling freight. This would sadly not last for very long as in mid 1998, the 95 would have it's engine block crack knocking it out of service for good. While the crack was repairable, the locomotive was considered a lost cause and was put into a deadline.

The 95 however would not fall victim to the scrapper's torch, as in early 1999 the locomotive was donated by BNSF to the newly formed WARM in Barstow. Placed just a few dozen feet from the platforms of the Harvey House where she once stopped to pick up passengers, the 95 now looks on as Amtrak trains continue to stop daily at the platforms she once stopped at herself.

Santa Fe 95 stands as a symbol of the final days of American passenger train excellence, and a relic of one of the greatest railroads in history, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway.