ATSF FP45 91

History
	Santa Fe FP45 91 was built as Santa Fe 101 in December 1967. Less than two months later, an unknown photographer found the gleaming unit sitting at Barstow, CA with other new FP45's and soon-to-be-retired Alco PA-1's. Photo courtesy the Western Railway Museum Archives.
	John Lucas filmed the 101 doing what it was built to do, powering the westbound Super Chief with another FP45 at Lamy, NM in July 1968. By this date, the Super Chief and El Capitan ran as one train except at certain times of the year when traffic was sufficient to warrant separate sections. The busy summer months were such a time, and the furled green flags and green classification lights displayed by engine 101 indicate that Train 2-17, the westbound El Capitan, is following.
	In the late 60's, Vincent J. Porreca caught 101 and 105 eastbound at the Kansas City, MO Union Station with a KCS E-unit looking on in the background. Most of the FP45's were delivered with the Leslie S-3L-R airhorn modeled by 101, which was Santa Fe's standard 3-chime freight horn at the time. The 105, meanwhile, sports Santa Fe's usual passenger horn, the 5-chime S-5T-R. Photos of 105 just after delivery show it already carrying the S-5T-R, and most other FP45's would be retrofitted with it before the end of their brief careers in passenger service.
	The 101 was renumbered 5941 in March 1970 as part of the 1969/70 general renumbering. In addition to passenger assignments, the FP45's also saw service on Santa Fe's 79 mph Chicago-Los Angeles freight train, the Super C. The 5941 was leading this train eastbound at Summit, CA on Cajon Pass on October 5, 1971. Note that the unit now has an S-5T-R horn. Photo courtesy "Dieselman."
	The 5941 powered the final westbound San Francisco Chief before the advent of Amtrak, departing Chicago on April 30, 1971. The train arrived at Richmond three days later on May 2nd, where Jack Perry photographed it stopped at the station and later at the roundhouse after cutting off the train and turning on the wye. Photos courtesy the Western Railway Museum Archives.
The 5941 traded its passenger red and silver warbonnet paint for the blue and yellow pinstripe scheme in late 1971 or early 1972 following its reassignment to freight duties and removal of the steam generator. Within a few years, it was repainted into the blue and yellow warbonnet scheme.
	A number of U30CG's received "hollow" noseband emblems when they were repainted into the blue and yellow warbonnet freight scheme, but 5941 is the only FP45 known to have sported a blue-outlined yellow noseband in this scheme. It carried the unusual emblem up until about 1977, when it received a standard solid blue noseband. In the upper view at left, Ken Wilken found 5941 at the San Bernardino shops behind SD39 4011 (a rare catch in California). In the middle view, Dale Wyant caught 5941 leading an eastbound up Tehachapi Pass at Bealville, CA. The lower view by Alan Newton was taken at Barstow on October 26, 1975.
	A grimy 5941 leads a freight south out of Albuquerque, NM in 1981. The unit still lacks a cab air conditioner and has its passenger-era Gyralite package between the number boards. The upper, clear light was for general use; the lower red light came on when the train's brakes went into emergency. When converted to freight locomotives, the FP45's kept their Gyralites initially, though they were seldom used.
	The 5941 entered the Santa Fe shops at San Bernardino, CA for rebuilding and emerged as 5991 in October 1982. Nearly a year later, the locomotive leads an eastbound at Scholle, NM. The Gyralite is gone and a cab air conditioner has been added, as have a set of smoke deflectors. The deflectors were intended to keep exhaust gases out of the locomotive air intakes (the screened area just behind the cab door). The deflectors were removed within few years.
	The 5991 was one of seven FP45's repainted in the SPSF red and yellow warbonnet scheme in anticipation of a merger with Southern Pacific in 1986. In the upper photo, Jim Matuska photographed the 5991 leading the hotshot 199 train westbound, pausing briefly for a crew change at Ft. Madison, IA. The unit's body developed a pronounced sag over the years, which is already evident in this view. The lower photo shows 5991 coupled back-to-back with a 5250-class SDF40-2 (ex-Amtrak SDP40F). The SDP40F steam generator section is noticeably longer than that of the FP45, as it was built to accomodate a pair of steam generator units compared to the FP45's single unit. The 18 ex-Amtrak SDP40F's had been Santa Fe property less than a year and were still in fresh blue and yellow when the SPSF paint began to fly in late 1985. None of them made it back to the shop for the SPSF scheme, which was just as well. Following the merger denial, the FP45's that received the scheme were gradually repainted back to blue and yellow. It isn't known if 5991 was back in blue and yellow, though, before a new scheme started appearing on the FP45's in mid-1989.
	In October 1989, 5991 became the fifth FP45 repainted into the modified red and silver warbonnet scheme, a scheme that would eventually adorn all of the FP45's and virtually all new locomotives purchased subsequently by Santa Fe. The 5991 was renumbered 104 at the same time. Ed Von Nordeck photographed the gleaming unit leading a special at milepost 85 near Rialto, CA on November 1, 1989.
	John Sjolander photographed another special outing for the 104 as she lead two of her sisters on an eastbound doublestack train at Blue Cut on Cajon Pass on November 16, 1989. The train had been assembled for the filming of the Santa Fe promotional video "Smooth Journey."
	While the 100-class FP45's often handled high priority trains, not all of their assignments were worthy of the cover of the annual report. Joe Blackwell photographed the unit looking rather out of place as it lead the Barstow - San Diego 828 train at Valencia, CA in April 1990 with a GP20, a GP50, and a string of ballast cars trailing.
	In May 1990, the 104 was briefly renumbered back to 5991 to avoid conflict with the new 100-class GP60M's, and was renumbered again a few weeks later to 91. Gary Kluge photographed FP45's 91 and 90 powering a Rail Cycle special westbound at Cajon, CA on May 23, 1990. The train was one of several such specials run in 1989 and 1990 to promote a proposed Waste Management landfill at Cadiz, CA that would have received L.A. area trash by rail. Amazingly, despite the potent persuasive power of a pair of red and silver FP45's on a passenger train, the landfill project never came to fruition.
	A broadside view of 91 at Hobart Yard in Los Angeles, CA by Joe Blackwell in May 1990. From this perspective, 91's cowl body sag was less evident.
	It was rare to catch two FP45's on the same train after they were renumbered to the 90-class, but Don Bowen found 91 and 98 teamed up on a westbound train descending Tehachapi Pass near Caliente, CA on September 13, 1991. Most Santa Fe locomotives received small US flag stickers near the front steps in 1991 to show support for US troops during the first Gulf War.
	The 91 became the third FP45 to leave the roster (and the first to leave through sale rather than catastrophe) when it was sold to Wisconsin Central in January 1995. The unit was renumbered WC 6652 in May 1995, and a few months later traded its warbonnet colors for WC's attractive maroon and cream scheme. Ironically, the first FP45 to be sold ultimately became the last to see service. All remaining Santa Fe FP45's were sidelined by mid-1999, while WC 6652 soldiered on. Pete Ruesch captured this stunning image of 6652 leading an eastbound freight at Hewitt, WI on December 26, 1997. Canadian National acquired the WC in 2001, and began sidelining old 20-cylinder power, including 6652. The unit was ultimately sold to LTE Rail Services, and was reported scrapped at their McDonald, OH facility in April 2005.

References
1. EuDaly, Kevin, Santa Fe 1992 Annual, Denver: Hyrail Productions, 1992.
2. McMillan, Joe, Santa Fe's Diesel Fleet, Chatham Publishing Co, 1975.
3. McMillan, Joe, Santa Fe Motive Power, McMillan Publications, 1985.
4. Shine, Joseph, Santa Fe 1987 Motive Power Review, Four Ways West Publishing, 1988.
Special thanks to Joe Blackwell, "Dieselman," Gary Kluge, John Lucas, Jim Matuska, Alan Newton, Vincent J. Porreca, Pete Ruesch, Ed Von Nordeck, Dale Wyant, Ken Wilken, and the Western Railway Museum Archives for the use of their photos.