Did railroads swap FT/3/7/9 types back in the old days on freight trains? I presume there was no interchange of power like today. I know that they swapped passenger power, but I wanted to know about the freight. Thanks.
I'm no expert but I think it went on to some extent based on photos in books, etc. I've seen plenty of mixed road names in F-Unit lash-ups in photos. Just a guess would be that it wasn't to the extent is is today but I'm sure other people know much more. Charlie
I have a picture around here of a B&O F7 leading a B&LE B-unit and a pair of Southern Pacific GP35's in Williard, Ohio i think right around '69 or '70. Railroads began to split up F-unit combos more in the 60's and ran them with other stuff (GP30,s etc...) than previously.
For the three rr's am personally familiar with; ACL. SAL, and SOU - mixing and matching of units was common early on. This includes both makes and models; especially EMD and ALCO earlier models. ACL and SOU especially, converted drawerbar connected FT-A and B units to couplers and mixed them with all available models. SAL retained their drawerbar connected FT's but freely mixed them with other EMD's and ALCO's.
I believe Cotton Belt and Rock Island mixed things up a bit. Also SP ran some of their B units with other hood types.
