As merger approached, the NP still had several FT's, A and B units, on the Tacoma Division. I'm trying to remember. After the merger, the last one traded in was an AB pair. Seems to me the A unit was the 5409A. But that the B unit did NOT carry a matching number. Anyone have a book handy? Boxcab E50
Hi Boxcab: i believe the last pair was traded in before the merger. i know none ever recieved a BN number.
There appears to have been a solitary AB set that survived into BN ownership, but as Bill says, it didn't even stick around long enough to get a patch (my take is that means it was off the roster within a handful of months, as BN was pretty hot on the patch renumbering...) FWIW BN numbers were allocated, BN798 was the A and 799 was the B The info there is from "Burlington Northern Diesel Locomotives" by Paul Schneider. There is a picture in the book, but they are too filthy to even read the numberboards!
The last pair, the AB set I'm trying to remember, was traded in just a few months after the merger. I recall seeing a magazine photo that showed these on their last trip. They were lead power enroute back east to EMD. Seems to me that I also recall thereafter they went to Mexico?
pray59, They were delivered from EMD with drawbars but the railroads soon replaced the drawbars with couplers. Dan
In checking in my NP Diesel Years book, I came across the following information on the last set of FT's. Numbers 5404C and 5409D were the two still on the roster at the time of the merger in 1970. BN actually gave them numbers (799,798), but they were never renumbered officially and they were traded in to EMD in may of 1970. The two that went south of the border were 5406C and 5410D. They left in August of 1964. I know that the railroad down there did restore the A unit around 1990 or so. I have a picture of it somewhere all restored. And Dan is right, the first sets were delivered with drawbars on all units. This was to help settle a labor dispute which they thought would occure. It was feared the unions would try and require two full crews on an ABBA set if they were coupled with couplers. This they could say was two different locomotives. I hope this helps fellas. Bill
For the drawbar issue, the reason posted is correct. When finally seperated, they were first broken into AB sets, then completely broken down to individual units. Bill- Thanks for the lookup! At least I had the 5409 part correct. Am still looking in magazines hoping to find the photo that's stuck in my memory. For some reason, I think it was in Railfan. But they started printing five years after the merger. So that may be my error. Boxcab E50
Some roads never changed the draw bar set up. WP kept theirs with the A-B set up till retirement. D&RGW kept the draw bars between the A and B units also. IIRC, SSW didn't change them either. Greg
Have the answer to my question. It was in early May of 1970. The particular A-B pair that went, which I had been wondering of, was the 5409A & 5410C. Boxcab E50
