F-45 Locomotives in Tales of the Jointed Track

As a retired locomotive engineer, the F-45’s were always my favorite. I enjoyed having them as the lead unit. They were a good on the grade, and like the SD-45’s, I rarley had problems with them.

EMD (Electro-Motive Division of GM) made F-45’s in the late 60’s to early 70’s. The Great Northern was the first to order. This was, I surmise was a resurrection of the full cowl or car body units of past. There is crew protection, when weather is severe, like snow, high winds and heavy rain. You old rails, whether trainman or engine service, who hasn’t exposed themselves in horrid weather. Watch your steps well, don’t fall off, hold onto the handrails, damn slick catwalks, and loose latched car body doors all were part of the equation.

The BN after the merger, took over the remaining GN order and were delivered into the BN Cascade Green and white. BN also increased the order as well. The Santa Fe ordered then too, for freight and passenger. The Santa Fe had F-45 (freight) and FP-45’s ( Passenger ). The FP-45’s were used on their remaining passenger routes that Santa Fe offered, till Amtrak. Santa Fe leased, briefly the FP-45’s to Amtrak, but recovered the locomotives, shortly after. They were taken into the shops and re-geared for freight. The Milwaukee Road (CMStP&P ) bought five of them for passenger service, then placed them in freight, before the railroad went bankrupt and disappeared.

An EMD Builders photo of the “New” Great Northern F-45 in the Sky Blue paint.

A BN F-45 in the cascade green scheme. You can see the difference on the pilots of the standard F-45 vs the FP-45. Santa Fe owned and operated both styles of the F-45.

A Santa Fe FP-45 on the flagship 199 at Sand Cut on the old SP Tehachapi line, between Mojave, CA and Bakersfield, CA.

A Rebuilt Ex-Santa Fe FP-45, being tested on the Utah Railway. This was re-built at the Morrison Knudsen Shops in Boise, ID.

All photos are given credit to the original photographers, and not used for profit or gain. Illustrative purposes only.

I always enjoyed running an F-45. The cab was roomy, and had better line of sight over the nose, than the older F units. I have run both railroads versions of the F-45 and FP-45’s including those that were still in the GN scheme. Those were repainted into the BN scheme in the mid to late 70’s.

I have caught them on a myriad of trains. I have had them, in consist and even buried in the old RCE consists. They have been a part of a manned helper consist. The locomotive, although nor resemblance, is a an SD-45, with a car body cowling on the frame. It was 3600 HP on six powered axles. The diesel engine was the EMD 645 c.u. V-20 cylinder design. Most of the the F-45 and FP-45’s were equipped with dynamic braking. The only exception was the Milwaukee Road FP-45’s which 5 were built and they were not equipped with dynamic braking. The Milwaukee FP-45’s are still in use on the Metra system in suburban Chicagoland.

There were other short-line railroads that bought and used the F-45’s after the BN, Santa Fe and BNSF. The Wisconsin Central and the Susquehanna (NYS&W) bought some of the BN units. The Utah Railway, that brings coal out of the mines in the Helper / Price, Utah area to Provo, UT. The Montana Rail Link, for an ex NP and BN spinoff, bought SD-45’s and F-45’s for their operation, till they bought and / or leased newer power. Like all locomotives, past their useful life, the majority of the F-45’s produced have been scrapped.

Last updated May 04, 2015