History and development

The EMD SDP45 was a good passenger locomotive, but to the Santa Fe it did not look the part. EMD therefore designed a lightweight "cowl" body to cover the locomotive, though it did not, as in earlier cab units, provide any structural strength, which remained in the frame. The cowl provided sleeker looks, better aerodynamics at speed, and allowed the crew to enter the engine compartment en route for diagnostics and maintenance.

The Santa Fe purchased nine of the locomotives (road numbers 100 through 108), and the Milwaukee Road bought five for its passenger service. Such low production was feasible and profitable for EMD since the locomotive was fundamentally just a re-clothed SDP45. Power, as in the SDP45, was from a V20 645E3 engine (or "prime mover") developing 3600 horsepower (2700 kW).

When Amtrak took over passenger service, the FP45s were reassigned to fast freight service, especially Santa Fe's Super C high-speed intermodal run. They were soon repainted from their original red and silver Warbonnet scheme to the standard blue and yellow freight scheme when the steam generators were removed and they were permanently assigned to the freight pool. In June, 1989 two of the units, #5992 and #5998, were repainted once more in a modified version of the Warbonnet scheme (this time, displaying Santa Fe in large, red letters "billboard"?style across the side) and re?designated as #101 and #102. The units reentered service on July 4 as part of the new "Super Fleet" ? the first Santa Fe units to be so decorated for freight service. The six remaining units were thereafter similarly repainted and renumbered, and remained in this scheme (some re?lettered BNSF after the merger) until their retirement in the late 1990s, after some 30 years of service.

A freight-only derivative, the EMD F45, was sold in greater numbers (86) to the Santa Fe, the Great Northern Railroad, and the Burlington Northern Railroad. Amtrak bought a similar passenger locomotive based on the 3000 horsepower (2200 kW) SDP40, the EMD SDP40F.

Preservation

Those that weren't wrecked in service are on display in museums:

Santa Fe 90: preserved at the Oklahoma Railway Museum in Oklahoma City in a non-operational state. #90 was the last FP45 donated by the Santa Fe and had resided on a RIP track for two years before being delivered to the museum.

Santa Fe 92: was donated to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.

Santa Fe 93: preserved at the Great Plains Transportation Museum in Wichita, Kansas.

Santa Fe 98: was donated in operating condition less the cab's air conditioner to the Orange Empire Railway Museum at Perris, California. It is still used for demonstration runs, though infrequently because of its sheer size and slightly low compression in two cylinders. This historic locomotive has the distinction of being the last passenger locomotive ever purchased by the Santa Fe.

Photo by Craig Walker