| Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway F3 31C at La Junta, Colorado on August 17, 1965, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. Number 31C (note a small letter C is painted on the middle yellow stripe above the buffer and below the nose door) was built as the trailing cab of locomotive 31 in September 1948 (c/n 6616) on EMD Order E1014A. It was rebuilt August 30 1971 to CF7 2636, retired from the AT&SF June 26, 1987, sold to NRE, who sold it to the Washington Central, becoming WCRC 402 during July 1988. It is seen here as the trailing cab of an A-B-B-B-A locomotive backing to couple to eastbound Train #24, The Grand Canyon. An Alco RSD5 is at the other end (note the Alco smoke in the background), shoving these locomotives toward #24. A Railway Post Office car has been placed at the head end of the train for the continuation of the trip to Chicago. At Kansas City, this procedure will be repeated and another RPO will be added there. The AT&SF had the mail contract between Chicago and Los Angeles, but the RPO's were not needed west of La Junta. |