It is real. It just got a special paint job. I have seen other pics of this engine, it looks great! Hope they paint more of this color!
Well, Let’s see them!
http://www.locophotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=44953 looks pretty real to me.
To make it clickable for those of us who are, well,… just to make it clickable, all right? [B)]
Is it possible, that the locomotive is owned by a leasor, and grey is their generic paint color? Seems it would be easier to lease the unit later, to say, BNSF, if it wasn’t Armour Yellow and Harber Mist Gray.[:D]
That wouldnt make a difference either way.
But it looks like a really high quality grey paint, as its really shiny and such.
sorry, i don’t know the HTML here to well.
I wonder if Grey Paint is cheaper than Armor Yellow?
I do like it… sorta.
My friend works for the UP. He found out about the new paint scheme. He e-mailed me about it. People. This just might be a “NEW” trend for the Union Pacific. We shall see. The only problem. It’s missing the ‘New Image’ flag scheme.
Hmmm… I am still skeptical, I will believe it when I see it. Anyone know when it will be through Wyoming?
Hmmmm… As I recall CSX had a paint scheme in all grey once. No one seemed to like it then. Everyone said something to the effect that it was not visibly safe, or something like that… dripping with sarcasm
All jokes aside, beautiful paint scheme. Kind of like NS, basic but nice.
Are UP’s CCRCL’s still painted grey?
i believe UP only puts the flags on fresh paint jobs and not repaints. by fresh, i mean the locomotive comes from GE or EMD in primer and is sent to jenks for its UP paint.
It is not a “new” paint scheme, but has been in use for about a year or so on helper and hump units, along with the remote units.
UP paints the hump helpers, transfer units and remotes grey now, when they shop them for repairs or when they absolutely have to have new paint.
Most of them are “B” units, in that they are no longer lead unit qualified.
Note the unit below, it is about to help drag a switch cut over the hump at , ()…it will also be used on yard to yard transfer work.
Sorry about the bad shot, I was blocked by…you guessed it, a train!
The photo is about an hour old.
The Y in the unit number is there because this is a merger acquired engine, and UP already had a 153 road unit.
They add the Y to denote it is a yard engine, not a road unit.
As more of the older units become too expensive to maintain, or when units such as the one in the original post become damaged or broken, if the cost of bringing them up to lead unit specs is too great, you will see them become part of the grey fleet, and be used as helper units.
I like the new scheme.It is a refreshing change from yellow.[:)]
The gray on the ex GE RC control units is NOT shiney like on the 6344.
Yeah, the new unit is a actual engine, not a control “b” unit. Notice the control or “b” units have no cab windows. This is a frsh painted loco right out of the shops.
yellow is a more safe color than grey so thats why up most units are yeller…
Real photo or not, helper or not, A or B, this is one striking unit.
yes yard units are gray it seems. HOWEVER!!! look at the unit this topic focuses on. WHY would UP assign an AC4400CW to yard duty? honestly, that’s just plain dumb. AC4400CWs are so powerful, they’ll live out their whole lives on road duty
Why would UP assign a AC44 to yard duty…other than they have lots and lots of them from mergers.
UP 6344 is former SP 298, part of the first SP AC 44 order.
She is old, and pretty worn…rode hard and put up wet quite a few times.
Pretty close to 10 years old, if not older.
If you haven’t noticed, UP is not doing all that much in the form of repair work to the SP or CNW units…basically running them till the wheels wear off!
Now, if you want to believe that, after so much bad press, and the lawsuits over trademark infringement, UP has decided to give up Amour Yellow and paint their units grey…
Keep in mind UP has closed most of the back shops and major fabrication shops, so making yard slugs or converting old locomotives to cab less helper units is much harder than before.
If you will look, the windows in the photo I took this afternoon are painted over, not plated over.
The paint was nice and shiny about two years ago, but two years of hump duty with only the rain as a wash station will pretty much fade out any paint.