Bob,
The Q never ran "F" units in commuter service, but for a brief period in the late 1940s or very early 1950s, they did use the two shovel nose lead units from the second Twin Cities articulated Zephyrs. I don't know how many cars they could pull (the 2nd TCZs were seven cars long and were, of course, lightweight streamlined equipment). The Zephyr passenger equipment was never used in commuter service and by the late'40s, had been reassigned as the Nebraska Zephyr.
When you rode the Q commuter service in 1961, many of the trains were double deck stainless steel Budd commuter cars which first went into service in 1950. As the RR was receiving the double deck cars, they rebuilt some of the old open platform four wheel truck suburban cars with enclosed vestibules, modern interiors and air conditioning. They were painted green (lighter than Pullman green) with silver roofs and a tan band through the window area. They also rebuilt some heavyweight six wheel truck 6100 series Pullman style coaches with similar improvements for commuter service. A few of both the four wheel truck and six wheel truck cars had large diesel engine - generator sets installed in one end to provide electric power to the train. At that time, all of the cars, both double deck and single level had steam heat. Electric heat wasn't added until after the BN merger. The car you rode in could have been either the four wheel truck former open platform cars or the converted six wheel truck former mainline Pullmans. They looked similar inside. The older cars were gradually phased out as additional double c=deck cars were added to the fleet.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO Tue Jul 30, 2013 12:07 pm (PDT) . Posted by:Thanks, Bob. Were F-units ever assigned commuter duty? Ever run into a
Ron Pluth in DG?
Regards,
Bob Arthur
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