Maybe, but my guess is more like the KCS SD22ECO program.
My office window overlooks the UP track through Austin. Two years ago 40-2s were as common as Volvos and I saw 5 or 6 a day. Now it’s been a year since I have seen any kind of engine except SD70 and C44s. Always the EMD is in front.
And something new: UP mixes intermodal freight with anything now, bulk, autos, box and flat cars. The only uniform trains I see are coal trains.
Something else new - The AMTRAK Texas Eagle runs on time between here and Dallas almost every day. It went from never on time to never late. Hopefully the economy will return and UP will once again need to call on some of the reliable old engines to move their trains.
Ah bummer. That’s no way to showcase MoPac history! Wrong paint, wrong location. Quite an unusual donation though. I just don’t see the logic behind it. Why CA would want something the midwest better recognizes. And why they would display it in UP paint. not much of a history lesson there [:P]
I think you will see SD40-2s, and GP38-2s, around for a long while. Like the 1939 LaSalle, GM got them right! The rest of the “Jimmy Junk” (50s, 60s, 70s, and 90s) will be long gone before the 40s/38s. The “Fs” wouldn’t have come to prominence if it weren’t for the War Production Board, but that’s another story.
Hays
What trains do you watch? SD60’s and 70’s are anything but junk.
Eh SD70s are reliable enough, SD60s just look nice. But indeed they ran like crap. Still it’s sad to see them go. Especially when they haven’t frequented my area since the CNW days 
Ran like crap? No.
The 40’s have quite some time left on them, but I think the GP38s don’t have as much time left, the SD40 will probably be pushed into its roles on locals and whatnot.
I remember a dispatcher telling me once “If you really need to get a certain train in a certain place at a certain time you put 5 SD40-2’s on the train and it will get there on time with out any problems”.This is very true.The SD40-2’s were the perfect locomotive.They had a big comfortable cab,large nose area,excellent heaters,and they loaded up very fast.They loaded up so fast you could use them for switching cars in a yard like a SW-1200 or similar.You couldn’t do that with most six axle GE’s.Their loading time was so slow you could read a novel by the time they starting moving.The SD40-2’s rode very well and had very good visability.Lots of room to haul your gear to the cab with out it getting stuck on things.
As a railfan and photographer I was happy to see some of them disappearing.I saw the SD40-2’s on nearly every BN and BNSF train for 20 years.They were everywhere.They always put on a good show but seeing new power on the railroad is a welcome site.One thing I will miss about the SD40-2’s is how the older ones used to sit for sometimes days and get really loaded up on unburned fuel in the exuast manifold.Once they left town with a train and if they were pulling hard you would see a massive cloud of white smoke and sometimes fire coming out the stack from all the unburned fuel from sitting around so long.Those older C30-7’s also used to get loaded up pretty good espcially if they were full throttle and then went down a small grade(at idle) and went full throttle again.See fire shooting out 6 feet out of the stack!
No. For the fact that 4 axle trumps 6 axle in local service.
I’ve found out in other locations that BNSF is preparing to send a number of its SD40-2’s to NRE for conversion into gensets, probably 3GS21C’s.