WILLIAMS, Ariz. — The Arizona State Railroad Museum Foundation in Williams, Ariz., has acquired the sole U.S. example of the SF30C rebuild program from Santa Fe’s Cleburne (Texas) Shops.
No. 9501 was built as a U36C by General Electric in March 1973 as construction No. 3990 and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe No. 8728. It was rebuilt in September 1985, the second unit in the program after prototype No. 9500 was completed five months earlier. The rebuilds featured overhauled 7FDL prime movers downrated to 3100 hp, upgraded Dash 7 electrical systems, muffled exhausts, and C30-7 style hoods (with protrusions for a new oil cooler design) and air-conditioned cabs, with a Dash-8 style boxy short nose. A total of 70 were rebuilt, initially seeing action mostly on intermodal trains in the southwest but eventually used on revenue freights systemwide. They were eventually retired by Santa Fe in 1995.
Many were resold to Ferromex and overseas operators by National Railway Equipment Co., but in 1996, NRE resold No. 9501 in operating condition to the Minnesota Commercial Railway, home to an eclectic fleet of older MLW/Alco and GE power. As No. 50, it remained there until its acquisition by the museum foundation. The foundation hopes to relocate it by mid-2022 to storage on the Grand Canyon Railway at Williams, Ariz. It will eventually be restored to its Santa Fe blue and yellow.
The foundation hopes to break ground on its Arizona Railroad Heritage Park later in 2022.
— Information from Alexander D. Mitchell IV
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