Monday, February 5, 2024

newly restored Santa Fe 560, a Fairbanks-Morse H12-044

 from the Southern California Railway Museum, Perris CA, website

"The museum acquired this extremely rare AT&SF Locomotive over 30 years ago, the only one of the original six of this model Santa Fe purchased still in existence. After being in storage for 30 years, the Diesel Shop team invested a lot of time and effort to prove that the SF560 Diesel engine was operable, allowing the restoration project to move forward. Restoration tasks included intensive cleaning, replacing missing or broken windows, handrails and steps, and returning the exterior to its former glory.

"The locomotive only had two paint schemes during its life with AT&SF. The first scheme was called Zebra Stripes, which consisted of a black body with silver or white diagonal stripes. The second scheme was a yellow and blue layout. During our investigation of the feasibility for the restoration project, we heard almost universal support to return the locomotive to its as-built Zebra Stripe paint scheme. The goal [has been] to restore the locomotive back to the same condition and look as it had in 1956 when it was delivered to AT&SF."

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