And I hate that song, and Now I’ve got it stuck in my head.[}:)]
Can someone please explain what exactly it means when a locomotive is “patched”? It’s rare that I would see a patched locomotive in my neck of the woods, as it’s been a while since BN/BNSF has merged anybody. I want to be able to spot a patched unit, on that fine day when one comes through town.
Thanks
You are getting good at this title making. I am going to have to brush up my funny bone to compete!
[swg]
going to school,that was pappas strongest rule…
look at union pacific.they took over sp cnw etc etc. sometime I still see a sp unit come through and the #s are changed and on the cabs the sp #S are painted out and up #S are painted in.eventually these units might get to go to the shop and get repainted but there is alot of work to do.
stay safe
joe
“Patched” locomotives are those that retain their original body colors, but their original reporting marks (initials and number) are updated with the new owner’s reporting marks.
Union Pacific has hundreds of Chicago and North Western, Southern Pacific, Cotton Belt, and a few Denver & Rio Grande Western units running around the system and each is painted in its out-of-the-builder’s-shop colors. The North Western units still are painted English Stagecoach Yellow and green, the Rio Grande power is black with orange lettering, and the Espee power is dark gray with white lettering and red stripes. But for many of these units, when looking under the side windows of the engine cab, U.P. has pasted on what looks like a large decal featuring the unit’s new number. The new number is red and that red number appears on an Armour Yellow rectangular field. Underneath the number, in a smaller font, are the initials “UP” or “UPY”. If your travels take you anywhere along the U.P. Worthington Subdivision, you’ll like see examples of what I’ve described here.
BNSF is doing something similar underneath each side window of the engine cab; but, instead of using decals, they are just painting over the old number and applying an equally large “BNSF” set of initials underneath the number. The old Santa Fe yellow-and-blue units have new yellow-and-blue reporting marks applied. The old Santa Fe warbonnet red-and-silver units have white-over-red reporting marks applied. The ol
Thanks. That explains it quite clearly. Reading some recent posts, I was confused on the finer points of" patching", and how there could be some disagreement about whether a unit was patched or not. Every time I read about “patches” on locomotives, I then have that whiney song stuck in my head for an afternoon.[}:)]
A clarification question, if I may -
The other day, I saw Rio Grande 1351 leading a consist. What should I have looked for in order to determine if it was “patched” or not? Or is it considered patched just because it is now a UP unit?
Geez, thanks Mr. Murphy Siding! Now you’ve got ME humming that infernal song![{(-_-)}] I’ve gone for oh so many years reading about, tracking, and discussing patched loco’s with nary a thought of the song, and now thanks to you…
Don’t you just love the power of suggestion! [:D]
If it looked like that - it was patched…
When ConRail did the same thing back in the bad old days right after PC, we called out those patched units as being “smurfed” because of that awful powder blue paint.
[(-D]smurfed[(-D][(-D]
Yes. So I guess that what I was looking for (if I had been interested in knowing if it were a patched unit or not) was the “patch” under the window. Thanks.
Under what circumstances would a Rio Grande unit not have a patch?
I think there’s only one Rio Grande unit left with its original number. Anything else is a UP unit now. The substantiated rumor has it that this one unpatched unit will not be patched.
Former CNW units with patch jobs aren’t really all that common–at least not in their own territory. There are two unpatched CNW Dash 9s still going around.
Correct, UP’s president has protected that unit from being patched (5371 I think).
Why in the world can’t they do a “patch” that doesn’t look like a home-made sign for a rummage sale? Surely when you merge a railroad, you get some touch up paint with the locomotives?
I took these photos of “patched” Q and GN locos back in the early 70’s.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=46532
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=70554
Thanks for the pics MOJAX[tup]
Confirmed on the road number. It’s an SD40T-2 often assigned to work dirt train service in Utah. It has not moved from Helper in the last few years except for it’s trip to Roper for inspection and odd duties around there of late. I’ve heard conflicting stories about the UP “protecting” her. DRGW.net keeps watch (see December 8 posting). Here’s hoping the patch kit never soils her.
I understand that patching is a cheap and easy way to maneuver the roster and clears up confusion when multiple lines have merged. Still, on an aesthetic level (especially as evidenced in the model shots above) you’d rather UP just leave 'em alone or send 'em through the paint shop.
Cheap looking for doing a patch job? Yup, sure is.
I was under the impression that it costs around 100,000 to repaint a locomotive. ( I think, someone might jump in here and correct me) I suppose it is much easier on the wallet consdiering there could ne hundreds of units, and logisticaly wise, to do the patch jobs. Since you can do those in the feild, versus haveing to pull it out of its territory and send it to a paint shop.
Besides, patches arent too bad… if you hold your thumb up, and extend it out, you can hold the thumb just right and block the patch, and pretend its still an original. [swg]
I’m of two minds on patching.
The “save the heritage” side says that they should paint over the old number with something that matches the original background (not always easy) and include the reporting mark below the new number, as they do now. The new numbers should match the style of the old numbers. Materials-wise probably no different in cost than any other patch, and the look of the old scheme is retained, at least until the whole unit is painted.
The other side says that they need to establish the ownership in a manner that’s easy to spot. Painting over the old number with the primary color of the new flag (as in the DRGW model pictures) identifies the unit as UP, despite the rest of the paint job.
I can argue for both.