Santa Fe Super Fleet
Virtually anyone these days with an interest in the industry knows what the term Super Fleet means. It’s the iconic red-and-silver warbonnet paint scheme worn by new Santa Fe locomotives during the twilight of the company’s existence.
First applied to a Santa Fe locomotive in the late 1930s, the design graced many a locomotive in Santa Fe’s passenger locomotive fleet until the formation of Amtrak in 1971. The red-and-silver warbonnet appeared again in the late 1980s, when it was resurrected by Santa Fe’s management to power its new intermodal business, along with almost every other commodity when the fleet of new locomotives expanded enough.
The only units repainted by Santa Fe into red and silver were its eight SDFP45s, which originally wore the scheme when delivered in 1967 for passenger service. GE and EMD delivered a diverse fleet of 370 new locomotives in red and silver between 1990 and 1995, prior to consummation of the BNSF merger. This includes EMD’s GP60M, GP60B and SD75M units, and GE’s B40-8W, C40-8W, C44-9W models.
Following the BNSF merger, another 120 GE C44-9Ws and 51 SD75Ms were delivered in red and silver with BNSF lettering while the company was searching for its new corporate identity. A handful of Santa Fe red-and-silver warbonnet-painted locomotives were also repainted after the merger with BNSF lettering.
While many of the original Super Fleet locomotives still reside on BNSF’s roster in either warbonnet red and silver or BNSF paint, some have moved on to service on new railroads. Among the notable second-hand owners are Canadian National, purchaser of 67 former C40-8Ws, and a number of short lines including Providence & Worcester, Nashville & Eastern, Arkansas-Oklahoma and Great Western Railway in Canada, which acquired B40-8Ws.
Along with the large number of C40-8Ws off BNSF’s roster, the SD75M fleet hasn’t fared well either. Approximately half of the 102 SD75Ms that wore red and silver are still on BNSF’s roster, while the balance have floated in and out of lease service. However, for the most part, they haven’t found a solid second life after BNSF.
On the preservation front, six red-and-silver SDFP45s have been preserved at museums in the Midwest and West. The first General Electric Super Fleet unit was preserved this year when BNSF Railway donated B40-8W No. 537 to Railroad Heritage of Midwest America in Silvis, Ill., although that unit is wearing BNSF’s Heritage II paint scheme [see “BNSF donates locomotive …,” Trains News Wire, June 14, 2023].
I live in the Phoenix area and several warbonnet C 44-9’s are frequent visitors to here
On a trip to the northwest a few years ago, I saw a BNSF Warbonnet unit on the point of an eastbound freight. It looked a little battle worn and I haven’t seen any since.