Hi there! Last weekend I went to Iowa on Illinois Tollway 88. Knowing that there might be some trains to see, I brought binoculars.
On the ex-CNW UP Chicago line (my favorite) I saw an interesting site! On an Chicago bound intermodal, there were two engines. The lead one looked like a Dash-9 or SD70M (It was a mile away, so it was hard to tell, even with binoculars). And then, behind it, was a grayish SD40-2, or something. Again, it was a long way away! But I could tell that it was an older unit. It was also unmarked, at least as I could tell (although I could not read the nember off of the other engine). They were only two engines, and maybe 20 doublestacks. It would very shortly enter Rochelle, so it might be on the webcam previous trains page, but being last Saturday, it would have been deleted. But maybe someone saw it?
So, why is it unpainted, and are they other engines like it?
The most likely reason for a grey SD40-2 would be a short term lease unit, that may have been shipped in undercoat, or in a plain colour to get it back in service quickly. I believe that both General Electric (GECX) and the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern, who get units from GECX, now have light grey units as well as blue and yellow units. But ic could be from another source.
If you see one close up, check the reporting marks.
Sometimes, GE and EMD shipped new units in undercoat if the railroad really wanted them right away, but that wouldn’t apply to older units like SD40-2s.
Metraup,
Up has also painted some of it yard helpers, olds B30s, in a battleship gray, with red scotchbrite UP lettering.
They use two here in Houston, on the Englewood hump, MU’ed in place of the slug between their hump engines.
Every once in a while, they run them behind a engine on yard to yard transfer service.
Metraup,
The one I have a photo of is numbered UPY116. (the Y means its in yard duty)
E-mail me with a e-mail address that will support photos, and I will send you a shot or two.
Ed
Gray with UP or UPY numbers could be former SP units. There’s an SW1500 in what’s left of SP paint (plain gray) with a UPY number patch working the Eugene OR yard.
Corwinda,
We see a lot of the old SP motors with the patch paint job, the ones I am talking about are fresh out of the paint shop, old GE units, with UPY and numbers on the cab sides and a sill stripe in red scotchbright.
Not even dirty yet…
Ed
Hi Ed,
I seen a UP Dash-9 draging coal by my house that had all the paint burned off in its mid-section. It was heading up the spineline into Saint Paul MN with distributed power.
I assume it was coming from the powder river basin. The engineer must have poured on the power and it over heated trying to get past Jen without her seeing it OR they had a western BBQ for dinner and it got out of control [dinner]
It could be brand new i seen 4 dash 9 locos in grey primer that were goin to
UP’s N Little Rock paint shop to get their UP wings and paint scheme
it was a few years ago They were temp numbered 4000 - 5000 series
this is post # 300 for me [8D]happy saint patricks day[:p][:p][:p][:p][:p][:p][:p]
[xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(] green beer 10cents till midnight at the irish pum here in
Charleston S.C.
What is behind UPs unpainted locomotives? Cars I hope…[:)]
Ed, If I take away from the many GE vs EMD “discussions” that GEs load up slower than EMDs, why would UP use UBoats in the yard?: Seems like they’d want to use an older EMD…unless they are just what’s available because the older EMDs are still plugging away in road or branch service…hmmmm
You guys can believe Ed…he’s got the straight information. I saw UPY 126 in Proviso this afternoon, and it’s definitely not leftover SP gray. These units are not locomotives any more…there’s an engine in there, but it’s just for ballast purposes. These are Control Cab Remote Control Locomotives (CCRCL), and will enable any locomotive(s) they’re m.u.ed to to be operated by remote control. Both B30-7s and B23-7s have been rebuilt in this fashion, and numbers go as high as UPY 149.
Hi Dan,
Carls reply kinda beat me to it.
I have to drive under the Englewood hump on my way to and from work, and the grey ghost have no exhaust smoke coming out of the stacks, which lead me to belive they were gutted, ballast added, and used for slugs.
Remember, slugs have no prime mover, they get their electric power for traction motors from the mother units, so a power cable and standard MU cables are all thats needed.
And the slugs are used for additional tractive effort, not HP or speed added.
The two units I have seen so far are UPY116 and 119.
These things aren’t even slugs, though. Extra 2200 South reports that they’re radio repeaters, nothing more. Might be interesting to see if there are traction motors on those trucks.
Hi Carl,
Yep they have traction motors.
Sat and watched them a few mornings ago, they are cut in between two SD40-2 in hump service, and when they run light, you can see by the slack action they have working traction motors, plus you can see the motors themselves.
Besides, why would UP make a old GE into a radio repeater?
You couldnt put anything on them that wouldnt fit into the SD40-2s proper, and thats a lot of work just for a radio repeater?
Now, they may have repeaters in them, but from watching them work they are functional slugs.
I’ll buy that. In order for the thing to work at all, you’d need some sort of electrical controls for the remote box to interact with…so you’d need batteries, or a power cable already.
I didn’t have a very long look at the one I saw before another yard move cut between us. It never moved while I was looking, so I couldn’t observe slack action.