Hi, everyone, I want to get an HO scale Union Pacific diesel locomotive in the Building America Paint scheme possibly. What in your opinion is the epitome of a Union Pacific Diesel. There is no wrong or right answer here and it does not necessairly have to be in the Building America scheme.[:)]
Ugh!!! I worked for UP. I’m anti-UP! They infest my area like fleas on a dog!
Okay…that said. (L…O…L)
Honestly…I think the diesel locomotive that best represents the UP is the DDA40X since they were completely unique to the UP.
Mark H
If your dead set on the Building America theme, your restricted to any current AC model from EMD or GE not sure if any 3rd gen power is so lettered. Now if you chose We can handle it or Dependable Transportation your options open up considerably.
I second the DD40X as the signiture UP locomotive, although those double diesel Alco’s were pretty unique too.
Dave
Depends on the era. For the 80’s and early 90’s I would go with an SD40-2. I remember reading in a past MR article that in the 80’s somewhere in the neighborhood 70% of UP trains had at least 1 SD40-2 in the locomotive consist. For 2000-2009 time frame I would say the SD70M since they listed 1000 of them on the roster. If era doesn’t matter I was always partial to the Gas Turbines myself.
That does remind me that UP rostered over 700 SD40-2’s and a sizable fleet of C30-7’s that caused train watching in the late seventies into the mid eighties to be quite mundane as opposed to a Sherman Hill trip in the early seventies where there was a variety of power.
Dave
Pure diesel - DD40AX.
Pure anything except steam - 8500HP gas turbine.
UP was always most noted for humongolocos - how much could fit between a set of coupler faces. Their humongous locomotives were unique for a reason. Nobody else felt the need.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Iconic Number in the Building America sceme
DD 40x or SD 40-2 [?] Why not get one of each.[;)]
I’ll second this here, nothing like an UP SD70Ac roaring through the foothills.
I’d say the GE 8500 GTEL “Big Blow” gas turbines.
It’s the UP’s equivalent of the D&RGW’s Krauss-Maffei Hydros.
Well I would have to argue and say it is the DD35. The DD40s were mearly a copy of an original. I can’t believe not a single unit was preserved.
Everyone had SD40-2s and SD70s.
Well, just to show you what kind of time-warp I’m in, my favorite UP diesel is the “bubble-nose” E-2 that powered both the “City of San Francisco” and “City of Los Angeles” before and during WWII, lol.
Tom
Tom, thanks for pointing those out. I googled same and enjoyed seeing the difference from the E-6s I happen to have. The B&W photo at the link below does a good job of showing off the unique shape:
http://pentrex.com/galpg29.html
This thread pushes me additionally in the direction of not just transition era UP, which I’ve stretched already from 2-6-0 to SD-40 time frame, to a possible expansion some day of the physical layout to add a fictional UP museum (including roundhouse) and any/all UP motive power being eligible. Kinda like a (what I’ve seen) all UP version of Steamtown or B&O museum. This could be an unwise decision from a budget viewpoint as it would open the floodgates of candidate locos from what I’ve already done. The short cut would be the all-era loco roster, with rotation on the existing layout of era ranges with locos that co-existed on the UP. I wish these ideas would go away (not really).
Paul:
The problem with the E-2’s is that I don’t think there are any commercially available models of that particular A-B-B diesel (my own “City” passenger train is powered by an E-6 A-B-B set offered in the COSF scheme some years back by Broadway Limited). It seems to me that the Coach Yard offered the E-2 some years back in City of Los Angeles scheme, but that would have been brass and probably terribly expensive. They are a unique and handsome loco set, though.
Tom
When I think UP, I think the 4-8-8-4 Bigboy’s… [:-^]
Diesel I would have to go with aforementioned DD40AX…
UP is famous for larger than normal locomotive power.
I agree with the DD40AX and it’s still running in the UP Heritage fleet. Here’s a link to a pic. I modeled 6936 a year ago and it grabs a lot of attention. I added all the appropriate external lights,etc.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=450490&nseq=6
This loco is also one of the fastest that UP ever ran as a diesel, if not the fastest.
Richard
No question, the U50, it makes all other locomotives look like Thomas the tank engine, this beast was a monster of a locomotive and looked like a diesel locomotive instead of a horizontal gym locker on wheels.
I LOVE that description, lol!
Tom