Nostalgia & History > Two Utah Railway views in 2001

I sure never expected the oddball MK5000C's to last as long as they have on Utah Railway, especially after slews of more-standard SD70MAC's on BNSF were becoming surplus, but they have had long lives. They were changed from Caterpillar prime movers to EMD SD-50 prime movers in 2003 and re-christened MK50C's, but these photos are from before the changeover, so these are of a locomotive type that is no more.

Photo 1 -  A westbound coal load curves down from Soldier Summit, UT at Gillully in the late afternoon of June 12, 2001, with the same long train still visible squealing above the power that is in heavy dynamic braking keeping it in check. Lead MK5000C 5005 was built as MPEX 9002, then became MKCX 9902, then UR 5005 as shown here, and was the first unit repainted orange, yellow and black to reflect the recent Genessee & Wyoming ownership of Utah Railway. Second unit visible around the curve is UR 9012, built as Santa Fe SD45-2 5855, which was rebuilt by ATSF with a Caterpillar engine. In 1995-96 it was rebuilt by M-K back to an EMD prime mover.

Photo 2 - An eastbound UR coal empty emerges from Nolan Tunnel 2 as a westbound UR coal load is entering Nolan Tunnel 1 in the Price River Canyon near Kyune, UT in a caucophony of train noises on June 14, 2001. === === = === Photos by JLH



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/15 15:13 by highgreengraphics.

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That second shot is great.  What are the chances of finding that combination again?

Great timing for the trains to meet.  Good job.

JLH, you shot a pair of ACES!!  Great light in the first shot and incredible timing, with maybe a little bit of luck in the last.  I wonder if that was a common occurence back then at the Kyune Tunnels?  Thanks for sharing a great pair.

Kent in CArmel Valley

Thanks, all! Timing could have been 5-10 seconds better in Photo 2 - The load going into the tunnel has two more units ahead of the two that are not at all visible. Would have actually made better video, but absolutely no time to set it up. === === = === JLH

highgreengraphics Wrote:
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> Thanks, all! Timing could have been 5-10 seconds
> better in Photo 2 - The load going into the tunnel
> has two more units ahead of the two that are not
> at all visible. Would have actually made better
> video, but absolutely no time to set it up. ===
> === = === JLH

great timing!

Great days on the Utah.  There was a lot of traffic on the Utah and the Grande.  Utah could load 3 or 4 trains a day, with UP power on some trains.  One day in 1992, we were shooting a load going up with 7 of the SD-40s, plus one leaser, and an emtpy with the other four SD-40s snuck up on us while the loads roared uphill.  All 11 SD-40s at one spot for a moment.  Quite the moment.

Rob
 

Very nice shots. It would be hard for them to run 2 trains these day where they use about every engine they have getting a train over the hill.

Love number two. It's a good thing I didn't have a car in college. I would have spent too much time chasing trains there, or fishing.

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