On my very first trip to visit the Santa Fe Railway, I arrived at Flagstaff just in time to catch this westbound train weaving through the ponderosa pine with an interesting power consist on the head end. On the point, ATSF 1564, an EMD SD39u built by EMD as the ATSF 4018 in May 1969. The shiny 'Kodachrome' SPSF livery had been applied the previous December during a rebuild. Second out in the power consist, the ATSF 3565 is an EMD GP35 built in February 1964. Third out, an EMD GP38 built for the Santa Fe in June 1970. Lastly, an unidentified F45 completes the consist, also painted in SPSF livery. This eclectic consist leads one of Santa Fe's numerous priority container trains upgrade through Arizona's Coconino National Forest. The location for this photo is via the old Route 66 overpass between East Flagstaff and Cosnino on September 7, 1986.
