| What's on the Grille? |
Passenger F3 sets 22LABC-36LABC along with freight units 200LABC-201LABC all received horizontal SS grilles at delivery, and were later upgraded to vertical SS grilles.
Freight units from 202LABC through 258LABC were delivered with horizontal grilles, as were the first 300-class passenger units 300LAB-312LAB, and 37LABC-41LABC. All later deliveries came with vertical (Farr-type) grilles. The early 37-class and 300-class units were upgraded to vertical grilles (by 1953). However, some of the 300-class units that were renumbered to 325 class did not receive this upgrade, as is discussed in detail in the following.
Here is a quote [to which I have added clarifying text] from the 3Q 1991 Santa Fe Modeler
"The 300 class of F7 passenger locomotives were built concurrently with the 37 class and they were identical in appearance to the 37 class except they were arranged in A-B-B sets instead of A-B-B-A, apparently the only reason they were assigned to a separate class. 1949 delivered units 300LAB through 305LAB [and units 306LAB-312LAB delivered in 1950, that had horizontal grilles originally, along with units 313LAB-316LAB, delivered in 1951 with vertical grilles, all] had 36"D/B fans while [1952 deliveries of 306LAB-]314LAB[2nd] had 48" D/B fans. All [300-class units remaining after the 1952 renumberings to the 325 class] had vertical slit grilles, so the same modifications mentioned for the 37 class would also apply to modeling the 300 class."The last sentence above applies to the conditions after the renumbering of 306-315LAB[1st] to the 325 series, and deliveries of 306-314[2nd] (with vertical grilles and 48" dynamic brake fans). 300-312LAB[1st] were all delivered with horizontal grilles, before the vertical grille option was made avaialable by EMD. I believe that the units in the 300-312 series were all being upgraded to vertical grilles when the decision was made to renumber the 306-316 to the 325-335 series. At that time the units were treated meticulously as sets, so I also believe that 306LAB were all upgraded at the same time, before being renumbered 325LAB, to vertical grilles. The renumbered units that had not been upgraded prior to the renumbering (which would have been 307-312LAB renumbered to 326-331LAB) were not upgraded after renumbering. You can debate whether the upgrades were being done in numerical order, making the 306LAB upgrade the last one (and thus forcing 307-312 to have not been upgraded), or, alternatively, the remaining 300-class units that had not been upgraded by the 325-class renumbering were to be upgraded to vertical grilles soon after the renumbering had been completed (and perhaps making it more likely that the 306LAB upgrade was among the first). However, since 332 (formerly 313) and upwards already had been delivered with vertical grilles, the units were left in the arrangement described in the quote below in late 1952, or at least by early 1953.
Quoting from later in the same source:
"325 class units had three variations in appearance. Units 326LAB through 331LAB had 36" D/B fans and horizontal slit grilles, making these units identical to both the Athearn and Stewart models. Units 325LAB and 332LAB through 335LAB had 36" D/B fans and vertical slit grilles. Units 336LAB and upwards had a 48" D/B fan and vertical slit grilles as in the late 37 class. "Units in the 326-331 series that were repainted with either bluebonnet or yellowbonnet liveries kept their horizontal grilles. The result of all of this is that you can find photographs from the 1960s and 1970s (when the LAB and LABC sets were broken up and mixed as power demands dictated) such as those linked below, where the odd unit with horizontal grilles is mixed in with multiple vertical-grilled units.
It is also the case that all of the units that were upgraded from the 22-36 F3s and 37-class F7s to fill in the 300 class to LABC in 1971 for the Amtrak lease had either originally received or been upgraded to vertical grilles. Thus the 326-331 numbers are the only ones in passenger livery valid for horizontal slit grilles from the 1960s on, unless the modeler has photographic evidence of a shop swap to the contrary.
Where did all these vertical-slit grilles come from for the upgrades? Check out the photos of 200-class freight units that ought to have vertical grilles (by reference to other features, such as 48" dynamic brakes, rooftop coils, etc.) that have horizontal ones instead. Even though the vertical slit grilles were cheaper than the horizontal versions, why buy them when you have such a ready source for them already on the system? Which numbers of freight units were changed by such exchanges can only be determined by reference to the sparser photos of those units taken during the 60s and 70s.
325 in ABBBB+ lashup, 1st B has horizontal grilles, the rest are verticals. (Jun 1968)
[following three photo-links to postings on "Railfan.net ABPR Archive"]
335 in ABBBB lashup, 1st B has horizontal grilles, rest are verticals.
338
in ABBBB lashup, 3rd B has horizontal grilles, rest are verticals
(Joliet, IL in 1970)
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