Nostalgia & History > UP F9 You Don't See Everyday

Photo taken by Jim Munding at Hinkle, Oregon on March of 1969. Union Pacific F9A 503. Photo PRS/ Archive

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Nice PLOW!

Some of the UP F's ended up on the Rock Island too. I have a photo of one at Blue Island IL with the plow still on it.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

F9?

Ok F3 then rebuilt to F9

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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> F9?

I think it is an F-3 rebuilt to F-7 around 1956 / 57.

Malcolm
New Zealand.

Most unusual wrap over ladder. Don't think I ever saw that on a F or E unit before.

830-east Wrote:
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> Ok F3 then rebuilt to F9

I've seen these classed as F9M's. F9 internals inside an F3 body.

Thanks for the photo and bringing back a memory involving this unit or one like it. On Sunday, August 10, 1969 I was en route east across Wyoming on U.S. Highway 30, back before I-80 across Elk Mountain between Rawlins and Laramie was completed. There was a lot of action on UP's Overland Route that day, and I had already seen a couple of the final "Big Blow" gas turbines still in operation powering trains since we passed through Evanston.

On a clear summer day in southern Wyoming you could see the thin, black smoke plume of the turbines from quite a distance. On this particular afternoon out near Medicine Bow I saw another of those plumes beyond a rise in the distance, although the train itself was not yet visible. As the smoke got closer the highway went out across an overpass where the tracks passed beneath the Lincoln Highway (US 30) in a cut. As we crossed this bridge I looked down right into the cab of the turbine as it roared beneath the highway in very dramatic fashion. There were several diesels behind the turbine, with this F-9M (or one like it with a big plow) directly behind the turbine's tender followed be several hood units.

I saw several more turbines on this particular trip, but this is the final memory I have of UP's gas turbines in operation, with the big plow-equipped F-3/F-9M being a special part of that experience. UP's turbines were my all-time favorite freight units, having grown-up seeing all three varieties in operation. Whenever I see turbine 26 on display at the Ogden Union Station I always think about that last trip across Wyoming when the final version of those distinctive UP locomotives were still in operation, and about the F-9 with the big plow on the train discussed here. Thanks again for sharing this photo!

ShastaDaylight

PHall Wrote:
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>
> I've seen these classed as F9M's. F9 internals
> inside an F3 body.

They were F9s. No other name. Not F9M. Not F3. "PHall" is right, they were F9s in F3 carbodies. The retired F3s were completely gutted and all components were replaced, including the trucks and traction motors. To confuse railfans even more, the radiators were completely replaced and the control circuits upgraded. The radiator fans on top were removed from all units as they were stripped of all components. To save money, the fans were checked for proper operation, and randomly reapplied as the units progressed through the manufacture process. Those fans that were not serviceable were replaced by new fans.

I tried to capture as much source data as I could find in this article:

http://www.utahrails.net/articles/up-f9-or-f9m.php

Here is a general article about UP's EMD F units is here:

http://www.utahrails.net/articles/up-f-units.php

Don Strack



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/14 05:48 by donstrack.

Thanks for showing this. I saw a lot of these paired with GP9s for freight service on the locals on the KP around Salina KS.
Brian Stevens.

Posted from iPhone

This became RI 4150. See: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2938514

ShastaDaylight wrote:

> UP's turbines were my all-time
> favorite freight units, having grown-up seeing all
> three varieties in operation.

#envious

Awesome... and by "all three types" do you mean

1) GTEL-4500 "Conventional"
2) GTEL-4500 "Veranda"
3) GTEL-8500

or

1) GTEL-4500 (of either tyoe)
2) GTEL-8500
3) Coal?

..just curious.


~Joe P.
Hainesville, IL

Joe,

I never saw the coal turbine in the 1960's, but I did see the Standard (or sometimes called Panel Side turbines, as well as the Veranda's during a February 1963 trip by car across Wyoming. (That was near the end for both of the smaller turbines). The big turbines were seen on that trip, plus on visits to Wyoming in 1967, 1968, and two trips in 1969, the last of which in August I mentioned in my earlier post. I loved all three, but the Veranda was my personal favorite. Thanks for the comments and adding to those regarding this fine photo.

ShastaDaylight