Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 12, 2006

A CF7 is an EMD F-unit diesel 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, Texas, workshops between October 1970 and March 1978. The program was initiated in response to a system-wide need for more than 200 additional four-axle diesel hood units to meet projected motive power demands on branch lines and secondary main lines. Santa Fe's aging fleet of 200-series F-units were in dire need of overhaul, and were not suitable for switching service in their original configurations due to the poor visibility resulting from their full-width carbody. As new, state-of-the-art locomotives cost upwards of $150,000 each at the time, Santa Fe elected to experiment with modifying its existing F-units to serve their purpose, which they hoped they could accomplish for around $60,000 each. Changes in business philosophy led the company to sell off its entire CF7 inventory by 1987, with most of the units (all but 9) ending up in the hands of regional and short-line railroads, and a few excursion lines. A number remain in service today.

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