CF7 Diesel Locomotive

Prototype Information

In the late 1960s, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway faced a critical shortage of road switchers for its branch lines. Rather than paying premium prices for new locomotives, the railroad launched a creative remanufacturing project at its Cleburne, Texas shops. Between 1970 and 1978, Cleburne forces stripped down 233 aging, streamlined EMD F7 cab units right to their bare steel frames. Because the original F-unit carbodies were structural, workers welded massive, deep side sills onto the frames before installing new general-purpose hoods and custom cabs. The resulting hybrid locomotive became known as the CF7.

These rebuilt road switchers quickly became the backbone of Santa Fe’s secondary lines and local yard jobs. Early production models retained a distinctively rounded cab roof matching the original F-unit profile, though Cleburne later switched to a cheaper, boxier, angled cab design to simplify maintenance and door fitting. By the mid-1980s, changing motive power demands led the Santa Fe to retire the fleet. Their simple, rugged EMD 567 prime movers and affordable secondary-market price tags made them incredibly popular with emerging shortline and regional railroads across North America, where many continued to earn their keep well into the 21st century.