DAVIS OK Aug 23 1985 -- ATSF SD45u 5394 was the first Santa Fe unit to be painted in the proposed SPSF paint scheme. It was painted in this experimental scheme with white lettering instead of yellow, four stripes in the cigar band instead of three and a lower level of black for the roof line. The white letters were later changed to yellow. Fellow railfan Greg Hall and I saw the unit rolling westbound (compass south) through Norman OK but we were unable to photograph it. It was the first Kodachrome unit either of us had seen so the chase was on. We paced it south to Davis before we got far enough ahead to try for a shot. I took the street heading south just east of the crossing and floored my Suburban. We actually went airborne once but managed to stop and get a few shots in the rapidly fading light.
Aside from Warbonnets and Chiefs, Santa Fe was a workaday railroad like any other. This album showcases that less glamorous--but no less vital--side of the famous ATSF.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
