Has the UP #6936 been retired from the heritage fleet?? I mean like completely retired as in will never be used again by the UP retired??
A friend and I were talking about it and he thought that it had been completely pulled from all service forever and was destined to sit in a museum.
Just wondering?
6936 is currently pulling a company excursion train around the country- it started in Omaha/Council Bluffs a couple of weeks ago, and last I heard was down in Texas.
Well if it has, the some people have seen a ghost. They ran it on a train not to long ago.
EDIT: ARGH!!! Brian ya beat me to it! 
LOL-
I might add that it went via Chicago, and if I and the thread starter had been vigilant, we would’ve gotten pictures of it!
You missed it? Thats almost an intolerable offense Brian… [:D]
[:I][B)]Yeah, I didn’t have a clue until someone posted that it had made it to Chicago…
I tried my hardest![;)]
Oops, that’s right, sorry Dale, you did try to give me an e-mail heads-up, but I didn’t see that until too late, either.
Brian, just keep working hard and you’ll get an office on an upper floor with a view of the tracks like Gabe has. Explaining the telescope may require some thought.
Or, you could wait for a westbound run similar to your avatar, but with Jeff driving.
LOL, Rockwell Collins doesn’t have any buildings with a good view here- they keep adding new buildings, but they’re all single-floor…
Give me a few more years, I’ll retire and obtain the ability to go watch trains anytime I want to!
You and the 6936, huh, Brian?
I was a little miffed by missing it, too, and by a closer margin than you did.
I’m probably closer to retirement than you, but can’t imagine what life would be like with only Forum tipsters to depend on, and no way to electronically follow up on such things.
This unit is still Mr. Wimmer’s chariot of choice for engineering trips such as this; what happens after he retires is anyone’s guess. My guess is that it will be preserved for operation, just as are the E9s.
He missed it?.. Shoot for the last 19 years I have lived within a couple miles of the UP main line, and I still have never seen a real DD40AX.
My son and I did chase the Challenger from Clinton IA to Ashton IL in 2002, that was a blast! I would’ve chased it all the way to chicago if I had the bike that day, but the mini-van wasn’t fast enough to make stops for pics and then catch up and overtake it. The tranny started to over-heat so we called it a day at Ashton.
stupid mini-van
http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/loco/locohs03.shtml
Centennial DD40X: Union Pacific has retained only one of its 47 Centennial diesel-electric locomotives, No. 6936. The Centennials were the largest diesel-electric locomotives ever built. Actually comprising two engines on one frame, they delivered 6,600 horsepower. Designed and built exclusively for Union Pacific Railroad, the units were named in honor of the railroad’s centennial anniversary celebration in 1969. Accordingly, they were numbered in the 6900 series, from 6900 to 6946.
The first Centennial was delivered in 1969, in time to participate in the Golden Spike celebration in Utah. The remaining units were delivered during the next two years. They operated in fast freight service over most of the UP system until their retirement in 1984. Eleven of the locomotives were donated for public display in various parks and museums.
Any idea if it will come through St.Paul?
Its also interesting looking at the little endnote on that page about the deisels :
“Union Pacific has retained several other diesel-electric locomotives for preservation and possible restoration. In storage in Cheyenne are former Chicago and North Western “F” units, including the F7As CNW 400 and 401. The F7Bs are CNW 315, 410 and 411. Also in storage in Cheyenne are the E-9B unit UP 966B, UP SD40X No. 3042, former Denver & Rio Grande F “B” unit DRGW 5763, and SP SD-7 No. 1518, the first EMD SD unit built.”
Come to think of it, your friend may have been thinking about 6900, which was deadheaded on a business train with 6936 a couple of years ago and stuffed and mounted in (Omaha?)
UP 6900 is the one on display with the Big Boy (UP 4023) in Omaha.
I sure hope 6936 doesn’t get retired, I think it would be a bad move for UP. The Centennial is the largest diesel locomotive ever built in the entire world - having one still operating is very valuable for history’s sake. I’ve only seen 6936 once so it would be sad if they retired it now.
I asked about it last week when it ran,on the preseravion forum and someone posted a couple of pics of in in Nebraska or someplace where there was a lot on snow…
That is incorrect. The C&NW #400 is sitting in Spooner,Wi on the Wisconsin Great Northern is various stages of disrepair. Its cooling fans are at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum.