Did I startle anyone?
The new SD70ACE with the famous number was delivered to Proviso yesterday, and will head west today in the company of three other new ones (8490/8502/8476). Don’t know which way they’re pointed, but 8444 will either be leading or trailing.
The train is IG2LB. The 8444 looks like just any other new UP SD70ACE (we’ve seen nearly 300 of those now). I still think they could have made an interesting heritage unit out of this one!
2-tone gray Overland?
just a suggestion
dd
Kinda what I was thinking, too–with a graphite gray nose.
One question, were would the elephant ears go?
Seriously, even I’d like to see that! I wish they would’ve thought of that when the SD70M #4449 was getting painted.
Met that train just off the high bridge. The unit is trailing.
My conductor was also a railfan. He’s on the young side, and didn’t realize the significance of this number. I had to explain to him that the 844 for many years had the extra 4 to make room for diesels back in the 60s.
Jeff
Changing the subject slightly… How many ACes is UP on the hook for? Are they still ordering M-2s? Are any of the ACes holdovers from the SD90MAC orders?
Yeah, a two-tone grey would’ve looked cool on this one… “Elephant ears” would have gone where they normally do on diesels, over the radiators! Check out photos of some of the old SP GP40Xs… http://espee.railfan.net/spgp40x.html