Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Would you believe the Santa Fe 92 has been in IRM's collection for 20 years now? This EMD FP45 was built in December of 1967 with frame number 5731-3. It was donated to the museum in May 1997 by the BNSF railway, along with BN1, BN2, and BN3.



In the first several years at the museum, 92 was on display in a prominent spot in Yard 5 at the corner of Depot St and Central Ave. Visitors could take a tour of the cab and the engine room on most days. 92 did not operate when it was donated. At the time, diesel department volunteers did not look into the locomotive in much detail. We were told the engine in 92 had been swapped with a freeze damaged engine from a SD45. It was put on static display with the thought that maybe it could operate sometime in the future.

By 2010, enough money had been donated and secured to pay for indoor track space for 92. Equipment at IRM must pay for the space on the track it occupies outside, and must also pay the cost of the building space that it occupies inside. Indoor storage is the first step in the long term preservation of any rail equipment. The 92 was moved out of yard 5 and into Barn 2 early that year.



The elements outside were very harsh and did a number to the red paint on the 92. Luckily a little bit of cleaning with lacquer thinner did a wonderful job to brighten it up. Later that year in 2010 the numbers on the side of the cab were freshened up as they were faded badly. The 92 had been renumbered from 101 when the ATSF GP60's were introduced in the 100 series.

Also in 2010, we decided to try to use the 92 as a control cab, basically use it as a lead loco with a unit MU'ed to provide the propulsion power. The air brake system and electrical control system was gone through in detail, along with the running gear below deck, and all made to work for that purpose. There is a great video on YouTube of the 92 leading a runby on the museum's demonstration railroad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqR1GLjyGAg

Moving all the way to December of 2016, Dan Currens and I had planned a trip to National Railway Equipment in Silvis to look at a number of parts that they had available for some other projects being worked on in the department. While walking through the shop, shop workers were removing the major components from an ex SP SD45. On our way out, we inquired about the price of the 20 cylinder 645 that they were removing…they were firm at $25,000. We thought about it for about 4 seconds and just too much for us right now.

Just after the new year in 2017, NRE had come back to us about another RTO 20-645E3 that they had in stock, offered at $12,000. Now that got us to thinking about the project overall and prompted many discussions about what all the ATSF 92 would really need to make it operable again. Do we go for an entire engine change? Do we try to repair the freeze damaged engine that we have now, using some power assemblies we had acquired many years ago? And the big question, what else does it need?



Over the next few months we began going through everything in 92 in detail. It was clear the engine did have major freeze damage. The exhaust port elbows that run from the cylinder heads through the block to the exhaust manifold, that are surrounded by water, were so swollen I couldn't even fit my knuckles through them. Normally you could make a fist and fit it into the elbow. There's no telling how much effort it would be to get the liners out, which also have water passages all through them. And then all the advice from those in the industry... they said to replace the engine. We already know we were going to need a new air compressor.





Dan megged all of the traction motors, they all had pretty good readings. I went through and inspected each motor as well, aside from a little dust from sitting in the shop for a few years, they looked very good and had very little wear on the brushes. The AR10 main alternator was another unknown. Dan started looking into it and found so much odd stuff done to it, a lot of wires cut to suppression circuits, a bundle of wires going into it from the cabinet were just taped together to make it look connected. The diode banks had been removed and changed at some point. In the end it was determined that we should get another opinion, and after seeing some of the issue that were pointed out to us, the AR10 in it was deemed scrap.





Dan continued on the low voltage side and testing all the power contactors and reversers, interlocks, and a whole lot more. A number of reversers and power contactors in the rear electrical cabinet had to be removed and cleaned. The ventilation louvers on the top of the cabinet allowed 20 years of debris from the engine room to get in and prevent them from closing fully, or in one case, moving at all. There is a short YouTube video here with some of that testing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybsNBjmsxE

In the end, the list of major mechanical items needed to make the 92 operable again are the 20-645E3 engine, the AR10, and the WBO air compressor. A few significant donations to the ATSF 92 restricted fund, along with some department discretionary funds, made this portion of the project possible.

A few other items on the list that are two wheelsets that are good, but not quite enough tread left to allow for another cut. The other four have enough tread for a cut and then some. The last major item is the truck frames, the current flexicoil trucks are also from a SD45 and have the low underslung brake cylinders. To make the 92 correct, it would need the four high mounted brake cylinders on the flexicoil trucks.

We hope to raise enough funds to allow the purchase and installation of the correct truck frames, which is about $20,000. To support this effort, your donation would be greatly appreciated, and can be made at this link: https://www3.irm.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_4&products_id=2133

Over the first few months of 2017, we had many meetings with National Railway Equipment to discuss the many different options and prices for the project. NRE will be providing the engine and the AR10, and the labor to complete the job at Silvis, Illinois. We feel the experience and excellent quality and workmanship NRE typically provides will be well suited for this project, which is estimated to cost about $60,000 to $80,000. It will likely take a few months to complete. The next article, we’ll tell the story of the preparation and the transportation of 92 to NRE’s facility in Silvis.