George Andrews Wrote:
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> I don't recall Espee converting any F - Units to
> dual fuel. Probably not enough room for another
> tank...

I went an' looked it up so I could provide some documantation rather than just relying on my feeble memory.

Starting in the mid-1950's SP began a program to replace the original 1200 gallon fuel tank on many of its F units with 1500 gallon ones. Not all were converted, but hundreds were. In 1956 at least 49 units (22 A's and 27 B's) had their 1200 gallon tank replaced with a 1500 gallon tank that was partitioned to hold 350 gallons of diesel fuel and 1150 gallons of X-6 "heavy" fuel (sometimes called "Bunker C" fuel). The diesel fuel portion was located in the forward end of the tank. This was the same tank that was applied to the GP9's that received "Dual Fuel."

Refer to Strapac's "Southern Pacific Historic Diesels Vol. 10 - EMD Freight F Locomotives" for more information and photos (units 6268 and 8174 are pictured with the tank).

My understanding is that "Dual Fuel" was also applied to some of the Alco RSD-5's assigned to the BAK-TK pool. Understandable, since that's where the SD9's with it were assigned.