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Across the Arizona Divide

In initial trials, when operating with the lighter test 'multi-modal' loads, the secret "Super Bee" with the the prototype FM Opposed Piston engine Super Trainmaster began delivering  unheard of speeds up and down the Arizona Divide. It has been said that photos were recently discovered through the Freedom of American Railroad Technical Studies Act, apparently confiscated by ATSF Railroad Police during this period.

Santa Fe 3150 exits the Nelson tunnel:



No helpers were required by the Super Trainmaster as it whistled test train after test train back and forth in the wee hours of the mornings. When running properly, the Super Trainmaster and the 'multi-modal' train were cruising at speeds on grades on the Arizona Divide that normally saw only the grinding whine of slow moving freight F7s.



A brutish, handsome monster she is, as we see the Super Trainmaster blur by at racing speed, and you can almost hear the Opposed Piston prototype 3150 HP engine with the distinctive FM chugging sound.   A single beautiful engine, 80 MPH+ passenger train speeds, a silver and black zebra stripe blur .............




Enginemen of opposing Santa Fe trains swear they saw a FM road engine on an opposing freight, yet upon return to the division house, no trace of the mysterious train could ever be found on the timetable.

The Stage 1 (break-in) runs and Stage 2 (normal freight speed) runs were resounding successes.  Secretly, President Gurley could not be more proud, and it was difficult to restrain his enthusiasm.

Next, the acid test:  in Stage 3 testing, the Super Trainmaster would be ramped up to it's true mission:  extended  80+ MPH running on the straights, with repeated Run 8 maximum acceleration out of the many twists and turns of Santa Fe's line across the Arizona Divide;  all with fully loaded 'Super Bee' test trains.



As the San Francisco Peaks look on, was this history in the making?   Only time would tell.......

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Security

The continuing concern about the potential political impact to the labor unions, the national transportation infrastructure,  and the potential competitive advantage of the "Super Fleet A" and "Super Bee", warranted railroad police and US Government Department of Commerce MPs being assigned to the test routes.  V.G. (Norm) Viner, Special Assistant for Black Ops to President Gurley (assigned as a Director on the ATSF Black Ops Project 3150),  was the security director overlording the US Government black operations agents assigned to prevent counter-action by organized labor activists, competitive corporate spying,....... let  alone the stray unwitting railfan.

In the wee early dawn hours of a early spring 1955 day on the ATSF's Arizona Divide, a couple of railfans brave the early morning chill:



When out of nowhere, the MPs (Model Police) arrive in force:







After it was determined these were just innocent train nuts just taking pictures, and not actually counting rivets,  they were released on their own recognizance after confiscating the film......... 

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