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Santa Fe CF7

https://discord.gg/NUc2EcV2sr


IF YOU ARE JUST TRYING TO START IT UP AND GET IT MOVING, WATCH THE VIDEO LINKED. WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS ARE BELOW.

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The Santa Fe CF7 is an unimpressive locomotive with an incredibly impressive history. Although this locomotive is seen by many as unattractive and dated, it served as a unique solution to a financial problem on the Santa Fe railway.


In the early 70's, the Atchinson, Topeka, and Santa Fe railway, commonly referred to as 'The Santa Fe', was in a bad place financially. They had plenty of freight haul locomotives but they were short on adequate yard and local job engines. If they had the money, they could have placed an order for a shiny new fleet of GP35s, however poor finances made this difficult. The Santa Fe needed to find a solution fast to meet their growing customer demands. They began to experiment with taking their old EMD F3A and F7A units from the late 1940's that used to be the backbone of their railroad and using them for yard work. This test did not last long as the engines proved too difficult to use due to their wide carbody and poor upclose visibility. Despite their shape being unfit for yard service, they were still in decent condition, so the Santa Fe planned a rebuilt program, in which these 20-30 year old, obsolete diesels would be given new life. The name of the program was the CF7 rebuild program, the C standing for 'Converted' and the F7 standing for the original locomotives used, the F7A (F3As were also used in the CF7 rebuild program). The goal was to convert these cab units into hood unit yard engines.




The rebuild program took place exclusively at the ATSF locomotive shops in Clebourne, TX. The locomotives were nearly unrecognizable after being rebuilt, with the only callbacks to their first life being the anti climb on the front of the engine being that of the F units. This rebuild only cost about 1/3 of the price of a brand new locomotive. The locomotives were not incredibly reliable, with many operators of the engines claiming the engines had minds of their own, however the rebuild was incredibly cost effective. The Santa Fe rebuilt over 270 F3s and F7s into CF7s. They only ceased the rebuild program when they ran out of locomotives to convert. These locomotives served an additional 10-20 years on the Santa Fe, and saw wide use on shortline railroads after being cut from the santa fe roster and sold off. They continue to serve on shortlines to this day. Sadly, the era of the CF7 is fading away, as most of these engines reach 60-70 years of age. A handful remian working on shortlines, A few examples have been preserved, but the majority have been scrapped or are awaiting the scrapper's torch. The CF7 is still appreciated by some railroad enthusaists as an example of railroad ingenuity and a peak into the past of railroading.

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---DISABLE INFINITE ELECTRIC AND DAMAGE FOR SMOOTHEST OPERATION---
This locomotive is designed to operate as closely to the real world CF7 as possible in Stormworks.
This may slightly complicate the startup proceedure, however once you do it a few times, it becomes
intuitive.

---Powering it up---
-Climb aboard the locomotive and enter the cab

-locate the control stand, and flip on the [Engine Run] and [Fuel Pump] switches

-locate the back wall engine control panel, and press the button on the top right labeled [open breaker box]

-flip on the large breaker first labeled [battery knife switch], then flip on the rest of the switches except safety systems
(some breakers might activate a buzzer or 2, but if you hear a loud siren, you have infinite electric on, turn it off)

-close the breaker box to access the rear wall engine control panel

-ensure the [isolation switch] indicator shows [start/stop/isolate], else the engine will not start

-now that the cab has power, you may want to turn on the cab lights, although this is optional.
(flipping on the engine room lights on the back panel is recommendend)

---Starting the Engine---
-leave the cab out of the back door, and locate the button on the right side floor around where the radiators are

-this will open up the engine room. Press the [Prime] button until the engine is fully fuel primed, then hold [Start]
(hold start until you hear it roar to life, pushing on the layshaft may aid rougher starts)

-close the panel and head back into the cab
(if you turned on the engine room light, turn it off)

-on the rear wall engine control panel, push the [isolation switch] once or until the indicator shows it in the [run] location


---Taking control of the brakes---

-on the control stand, turn the [MU2A valve] on to Lead by turning the key, and flip on the [train brake cut-in] switch

-find the automatic brake buttons, and release the brakes. You may hear the compressor kick in to charge the air resevoir.
( The closer the [Equalizing resevoir] dial is to 90 PSI, the more the train brakes are released, the closer to 0 PSI, the more applied)

-below that is the [independent brake], apply it slightly, as can be seen by the [Brake Cylinder] dial to hold the engine in place
(for the locomotive brake cylinder, the closer to 72 PSI you are, the more the brakes are applied)

---Getting Moving---
- flip on the [generator field] breaker on the control stand to allow the generator to begin producing power for the motors.

-when ready to roll, find the reverser, and push it forward into the [F] position for forward or [R] position for reverse
([-] is neutral, in which no power will be applied to the motors, you cannot move the reverser unless idling)

-push back on the throttle to apply some power, then release the independent brake to get moving.
(important note, this engine does not have dynamic brakes)

-when trying to stop just the engines or a short amount of cars, use the independent brake
(range of 0 [fully released] to 72 [fully applied])

-when pulling a large train, the automatic brake may fair better on heavier hauls
(watch the brake indicators to ensure you dont push the handle too far into emergency unless intentional)


NOTE:
The alerter and PCS are both functional and enabled by enabling safety systems. They both work similarly to how they work IRL. Unless you are seasoned enough to understand how these work, i recommend not turning on safety systems.

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Credits:
Exterior shell and paint: Enzokats
Interior design and systems: 30DollarNightVision