U30B 857
U30B 857 at North Platte, Nebraska in June 1979 (Sam Carlson).
U30B 857 at North Platte, Nebraska in June 1979 (Sam Carlson).
GP38-2 417 at Thayer, Missouri in June 1979 (Gregory Sommers).
FA-1 5203 and F7B 5139 at St. Louis, Missouri on July 21, 1962 (Al Chione).
Testing-Research Building at Springfield, Missouri on October 8, 1980.
F7A 23 at the Illinois Central crossing in Memphis, Tennessee on November 17, 1968 (Al Chione).
Thanks to Karl Brand for the corrected location information.
U30B 849 at Paola, Kansas in July 1974.
GP38AC 647 at Springfield, Missouri in June 1975.
GP38-2 400 Tulsa, OK in February 1980.
Location is Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The locomotives are in the Mechanical Department’s service tracks area at Cherokee Yard. The yellow sand gantry crane is at its southern most location. It ran north and south on dedicated track above a pair of service tracks. There was an elevated work platform station that could transverse east to west over the service tracks. The platform could elevate up and down to reach different heights of locomotive sand box fill caps.
The fixed square fill tower is at the south end. Above the gantry is the gray fill point to replenish the gantry’s sand hopper. Sand is pneumatically pumped from the sand storage tower, through pipes, up to the fill tower and into the gantry crane. When needed the gantry moved into position along the service tracks to replenish individual locomotive sand boxes. Sand is used in locomotives to improve traction and braking efforts between the steel wheels on steel track.
Note the Santa Fe locomotive on the adjacent track at the left edge of this photo.
View is looking northeast.
Thanks to Mark Davidson for the detail.
U30B 853 at Kansas City, Missouri on May 22, 1979 (Jim Wilson).