I’ve heard of UPY (yard) and ‘plain’ UP, but what’s UPB stand for? Why the extra designator?
Wild guess: UP/Bailey(yard)?
I’ve seen pics on www.locophotos.com under the ‘Search Photos’ section in areas such as TX, CA, and IL. All seem to be SD40-2s.
UPB units are/were booster units, with cabs either nonexistent (the E9B is the best example of this) or deactivated (mostly SD40-2s at one time). The SD40-2s that had the “B” designation have mostly been rebuilt or disposed of.
To add to Carl’s reply,
B units of this type are not lead unit qualified; most have a notice in the door windows forbidding crews to occupy them.
The cabs have been stripped of seats, radios, and often the control stand has all its gauges removed.
I was in one a few weeks ago, the control stand was gone, and all of the innards had been plumbed across the floor in pipes and conduit.
The only way this thing could have moved is if it had been MU’ed to another motor.
UP is squeezing the last little bit of use out of them before they scrap or sell them.
Speaking of UP - We have some local, light industry that is serviced by Union Pacific and brought into the BNSF yard for sorting.
Saw those industry cars being brought into the yard by two KCS units. Now that’s unusual, since we have several UP motors that stay around here.
Just an FYI.
Gotcha! Thanks for the explanation Ed and others. It’s like a slug with the prime mover still operational then…works for me!
You might want to catch this month’s TRAINS there is a photo of a BNSF SD-60B painted in the HeritageIII paint scheme.
A wise idea. If I could find a retailer in Oshkosh that carried it I’d get one!