Western Railroad Discussion > On the hunt for UP 2010

Utah5005 mentioned that he had seen the Union Pacific Boy Scout unit #2010 when he went out to tour the Intermountain Power Plant near Delta, UT last weekend.  After I dropped my son off at school I decided to head for Provo hoping I could stumble on the unit since F40PHR231 had said it was still on the Intermountain train.  Now I had to let my wife know I was off, last week after dropping my son off for the first day of school, I stumbled on the Provo Industrial Lead job just down the street and spent about an hour chasing.  She called wondering why it was taking me so long to get home!  :)  Of course, yesterday I went past Provo and all the way to the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon and when she saw that on the iPhone tracker, she just said "see you for dinner".

Anyhow, it turned out to be a very interesting day, and yes, I did finally find UP 2010.

1 - Went to the south end of Provo to check the connector tracks that UP trains use to turn 180 degress from the Sharp Sub to the Provo Sub to head back up the mountains to Soldier Summit.  No trains when I arrived, but I did find flagman at the crossing and lots of UP signalmen all over the place with signal cabinets open.  I wondered if they were cutting in new signals as I hadn't been down there for a while and things did look different but I wasn't 100% sure.
2 - I noticed headlights in the distance, so started driving (mistake) to see if I could catch-up.  Then noticed a coal train cruising north as I was headed south, turned around to just catch the DPU's heading under what I then realized was a new signal bridge.  If I had stayed in place I could have caught the head-end passing the signals in pic 1 - oh well.
3 - noticed the headlights I had seen earlier were headed south, so I hurried off through Springville without catching a train.  Headed all the way to the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon just in case.  Nothing, nothing, nothing.  So I slowly work my way along the other mainline (they split south of Springville) heading north back to Springville.  Found this cool spot, signal was green behind me, so I hurried to setup as I heard train horns.  Then I heard more train horns and saw an empy coal train on the Sharp Sub headed for Provo.  This could be great, two trains grinding up the grade here!  Nothing, nothing, nothing ...  This is that classic photo "if I only had a train"

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After a few minutes, I realized the closet train horn was moving away, headed north back towards Provo and the signal behind me went dark.  Ugh!  Headed back to Springville and found what looked like hundreds, but was probably a little less, of flagman and UP crews at every crossing and signal shack along 400 W in Springville.  Chatted quickly with some of the folks and confirmed what I thought, they were cutting in new signals from the south end of Provo to the junction in Springville where the old Tintic branch breaks off from the mainlines to Soldier Summit.  

1 - UP 6368 & 6585 were the headlights I had seen earlier and were running back and forth to test everything.  Bet the neighbors were surprised at the number of trains horns yesterday, and I'm sure a few complained.  It was starting to rain a bit, but it was a warm day so it wasn't too bad.  I realized how quite the trains are now up in northern Utah County where we live, the Frontrunner construction made everything a quite zone and it's made a big difference.
2 - UP crews watch as the Red over Green indication lets the UP 6368 smoothly shift mainlines.  Anyone know what the speeds are through here?  They were moving quick, and moved through those crossovers smooth as could be.  I remember riding the Zephyr through here at a good clip, would guess 40 mph crossovers but I'm not sure.
3 - And there they go!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/15 19:06 by atsf121.

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7 - the old and the new
8 - drove down the the maintance shop for the Intermountain Power fleet, been meaning to do that for years.  Found the switcher (any idea on the model) with a string of cars, not sure what they were up to
9 - hopper car doors open, took me a second to figure out why I was seeing shiny metal, not a view I'm used to.  Lots of other cool stuff around the shops, would lover a tour

 

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10 - stopped by the old Pacific States Steel plant where a friend of mine works and caught this critter.  I remember their old switch engine which is now up at the Heber Valley Railroad.  What's this model?
11 - Grandpa, say hello to your much bigger grandson.  The empty coal I had seen early was parked on the connector track, but no UP 2010 on either end even though these were the Intermountain Power cars.  The local had come over from the UP yard, think this was headed for the Tintic branch but I didn't stick around to confirm.
12 - Decided to cruise past the yards on the off chance I might find something interesting.  Love the original Utah Railway engines, here's an MK5000C and an SD50 looking brutish standing still.  Seeing the Y in the background reminded me of how many times I came down here to escape the books when I was in college.

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Finally, sucess!  I found UP2010 sitting at the UP fuel tracks and I was estatic.  Lizzard45 had sent me pictures of the unit before, but I was excited to finally catch it myself and show my Boy Scout and Cub Scout sons.  Unfortunately I couldn't get as close as Paul did for his pictures, but it was fun chase that paid off in the end.  The unit does look a little rough around the edges, just like any Boy Scout after a long camping trip.

12 - UP 2010, couldn't quite get close enough for good pictures of the Scouting ranks along the bottom.
13 - on my way home, stumbled on an empty coal train, with SP #352 on the end.  I remember taking photos of then new AC4400W's that were sitting on tracks (no gone) right about where I stood to grab this photo.  That was 21 years ago, where did the time go?
 

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So I thought I was done chasing trains, but I decided to look for the Provo Industrial Lead job since I had seen it last week on Wednesday morning.  I found it switching the Rinehart Fuel in American Fork.  I waited for them to push back to Pleasant Grove by my sons school where they've been leaving their train lately, just like yesterday.  There aren't any other customer between American Fork and Lehi now that get any kind of regular service.  So they usually leave the train on the siding in Pleasant Grove, and push any empties back from American Fork.  I was expecting that, when the train started heading away from me towards Lehi.  Crud, so much for that photo.  Somehow I beat the train down the track and setup for a shot I've been wanting in American Fork with the old signal lights that flash warning folks not to turn left because a train is coming.  It's funny how much the line was super-elevated back when I used to be the UP mainline.  You can really notice it hear on this curve.

14 -  cruising through AF
15 - I always wonder what people's reactions are since trains don't come through here as much anymore
16 - I was trying to figure out why the crew was headed for Lehi and remembered that I've seen them park next to one of the shopping centers that have some good food places.  Sure enough, that's where I found them.

By then, it was way past my lunch time and I had skipped enough work that I needed to head home.  Crazy day, fun stuff to see, and I got lucky enough to catch the unit I was looking for.  All in all, a great day for train chasing.

Nathan

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Are they restoring or running the old pipe company loco at Heber?

Intermountain Railcar #1 is a EMD SW1001.

PHall Wrote:
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> Intermountain Railcar #1 is a EMD SW1001.

Thanks PHall.

boesrailfan Wrote:
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> Are they restoring or running the old pipe company
> loco at Heber?

Not sure to be honest, I don't remember spotting when we stopped by in February.  But wasn't looking for it.  Hopefully somebody else on here can chime in with more details.

Nathan