Nostalgia & History > GP-30 Thursday: Commonplace at Marysville!

Unfortunately in this grand hobby of ours we keep running into some variation of the “once upon a time” theme. It can be *time was…*, or *back in the day…* or *way back when…*. You take a shot of ‘X’ subject at ‘Y’ location on ‘Z’ date and think to yourself: Why did I shoot this, I’ve already got a gazillion shots like this! But there is one inescapable and very important aspect of railfan photography: It ALL eventually becomes nostalgia.

Father Time has that funny, and inevitable way of changing your viewpoint. Jim Watson shot this pair of commonplace GP-30s sitting at the Marysville (KS) roundhouse. But why? By the 1989 date of this shot Jim has recorded dozens of commonplace shots at the Marysville RH. And Jim has 100s of shots of UP’s commonplace GP-30s. (Knowing Jim, he very likely has recorded at least one shot of every GP-30 Uncle Pete ever owned! :-)

But 25 years later the commonplace becomes very nostalgic. Today Marysville doesn’t have much of a yard left. There is no more secondary mainline up to Lincoln & Omaha. No more locals to run out of Marysville. No more reason for power to sit at the RH while blocks of cars are switched in & out of their trains. No more Marysville RH. No more GP-30s.

No more GP-30s??? Whoa, when did THAT happen? If you were a UP fan & regular shooter within the past several decades did it ever occur to you that someday you will never again see another UP GP-30? This was unthinkable, because the GP-30 was SO commonplace! Flash forward 25 years: Hmmm… I think I’ll go out and find me a rare coal train to shoot. Maybe it will have a rare Gevo on the point… ;^)

1. UP 723 & a tired looking 701 sit idle at the roundhouse in Marysville, KS on April 14, 1989.
(photo by James W. Watson)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Jim Watson (UP6900)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/22 22:20 by santafe199.

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Good News for all GP-30 fans! There is 1 UP GP-30 still commonplace and running in Boulder City, NV, down the "street" from Las Vegas:

http://www.nevadasouthern.com

For an "extra fare", I got to ride in the cab. Contact the above Nevada Southern website for availability.

By the way, former UP GP-30's # just happens to be 844...



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/14 11:06 by octrax.

Not all is lost. Diesel Shop shows 17 GP30s preserved in museums. And there are some GP30 bodies running around with modern guts.

Marty Bernard

MartyBernard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not all is lost. Diesel Shop shows 17 GP30s
> preserved in museums. And there are some GP30
> bodies running around with modern guts.

Yup. Plenty of CSX slugs, for instance.

I also thought BNSF still had some on it's roster:

2400-2477 GP30 24 of 78 as of 10/09

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

Arved Wrote:

> I also thought BNSF still had some on it's
> roster:
>
> 2400-2477 GP30 24 of 78 as of 10/09

BNSF has GP30 bodies running around, but not those ones. Those are the ex-ATSF units that were mostly sold off to LTEX a few years ago. Quite a few have found happy homes elsewhere - displacing U-boats on Georgia Central, displacing Dash-7's on the AOK (nobody gets nostalgic about GE's - there are more preserved GP30's than U-boats and Dash-7's combined).

The GP30 bodies BNSF still uses are the rebuilds from the BN side of the family, the "GP39M's" and re-cabbed "GP39E's" in the 2700's and 2800's. The cores for these units came from all over the place, including UP. BNSF 2833 just happens to be the ex-UP 723 shown above. The 701 is also still around, working for the Acadiana Railway.

Gotta love the GP-30 "Humpies", on any road! A great engine to see and hear in person and too model. It seems like the paint schemes of so many great railroads blended in sleek, with the GP-30 engine frame. Thankfully, there many examples of these engines, a true testament to their quality. Like a fine classic car in so many ways!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/14 15:53 by spsniper.

Actually, that was a rarity a that point in time as the 701 and 723 were 2 of the last 3 GP30s on the UP (I think 844 was the other one). All 3 would be gone by that summer. Without looking at a power annual, I'm 90% sure 701 and 723 were rebuilt as GP39Ms for BN and are still on the BNSF roster today.

Posted from Android

Without looking...I'm 90% sure 701 and 723 were rebuilt...

did you read Evan's reply...

Posted from Android

Sorry I wrote it aftet Evan's post. But I'm still standing by my claim that they were 2 of the last 3 GP30s.

Posted from Android

cdub Wrote:

> But I'm still standing by my claim that they were 2 of the last 3 GP30s.

Don Strack's site does indeed say "UP 701 and 723 were the last 700-class GP30s to operate on UP, retired in July and June 1989."

http://utahrails.net/up-diesel-roster/up-diesel-roster-09.php#gp30-700

Over in the 800-class, it looks like 844 made it to January 1989, and 874 was retired July 17, 1989, eleven days before 701.

http://utahrails.net/up-diesel-roster/up-diesel-roster-10.php#gp30-800

In addition to the roster listings cited by Evan, I also did a pretty nice article about UP's GP30s in Diesel Era (Volume 10, Number 2, March-April 1999), with lots of photos. (15 years ago! Like Lance said, time flies!)

The updated and edited text is here:

http://www.utahrails.net/articles/up-gp30s.php

There is a link to a photo album of GP30 photos, including UP's unique GP30Bs.

GP30s are some of my favorites on UP, although the SD40-2s, built in 1972-1980, are a real close second.

Don Strack

I rode one of those Marysville GP-30s back in 83 or so as the leader on a coal train running up the ex-Rock Island from Fairbury, Neb. to a power plant in Hallam. The GP-30 was dead, but we had a lively MOP GP-20 and borrowed a U30C off a passing train in Fairbury to get us up the hill to the plant. It was a very quiet and slow trip. Just made it back to Fairbury when the crew went dead on the law.

John Bromley
Omaha, Nebraska



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/14 06:32 by Copy19.