I herd this from someone
2 months ago 1982 blew a piston, and will be repainted, and the 6936 will be the new heritage unit for MOPAC
Don’t believe it–number one, UP 1982 was here only a couple of weeks ago, active, and number two, there’s no way the 6936 would be suitable in any paint other than UP’s.
ok, why would UP repaint a DD40 as a heritage locomotive? Only UP had them, so why would you put some other paint on it?
At some point, the heritage locomotives are going to die. Old age, derailment, whatever, they’re gonna die. At that point UP has to decide whether they will paint another new anonymous locomotive to replace the dead unit or they will decide that they’ve milked this gimmick for what its worth and its time to go back to yellow and grey -which is the more likely scenario. I doubt that you will ever see 2nd generation heritage units.
Stack
Unless and until there’s a change of mind at the UP, they will always have their “heritage units.”
The reason for the units in the first place is that, for whatever reason, UP wants to retain control of the names and logos of its component railroads. I don’t know why it’s so all fired important to them to keep control of the Rio Grande/WP/MoP, etc. name and logo, but it is.
To do this they have to use the name/logo on revenue equipment in revenue service on a regular basis. The result is the heritage units. If they stop using the names/logos they loose control of them.