Model Railroading > Utah Belt Run Through

Utah Belt 3804 GP60 brings the Auto parts train into the Midwest Terminal yard.

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Nice power... is it yours or is it leased?? Would like to see some on my line...

Ah.. The UB...Still one of the best modern day model pikes ever built by Eric Brooman. Nice to see a UB veteran still earning it's keep.


SV

It is mine. I bought it from him at the Boeing train show in St. Louis a couple of years ago. He is one of my favorite modelers, even though this power is a little too modern for my layout. I try to stick to an early-mid 70's. In trying to set this up I was looking for something to put behind it that would look right with just one unit. I didn't think that a pig train with trailers from the 70's would look right, So I chose an Auto parts car (ICG but what the heck it is out of focus!)
Brian

Thats great. I was hoping someone would come out with UB decals. I need a UB loco consist to go with the coal cars I have on my line. My crews would probably enjoy the newer power too.

Here is my SD40-2, that I picked up a couple of years ago from a WC engineer, I also purchased the V&O SD40 from him also. Taken on the layout at the hobby shop I work part time at.

Mike Slater
SE Wisconsin Free-mo

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Very cool to have locomotives from established model railroaders. I didn't go to the show this year So I don't know if Mr. Brooman was there selling anymore of his "aged" fleet or not. I'd like to get one of Tony Koester diesels! Be a little out of place in the midwest but it could be passing through my RR after being rebuilt somewhere out west! It's my railraod and I can have anything at anytime!

I also have a Wisconsin & Michigan GP38-2 and an Allegheny Midland SD40, But I also Have several locomotives from several of the founding members of a club I use to belong to. I like collecting private road locos, its nice to have a little selection to run with my free lanced railroad

Mike Slater
SE Wisconsin Free-mo

Eric Brooman was indeed at the Boeing show this past weekend hawking some outdated Utah Belt items. I was also selling some items so I managed to work a trade. I swapped a used Kato for this old Athearn GP9. I have been a long time fan of his Utah Belt and I really only wanted it for sentimental reasons. Eric knew it was old and didn't run well, so he was almost embarrassed to get the "better" end of the trade. When he brought it back over to me, he also brought along a Utah Belt boxcar to include.

We talked a bit about how the UB might find its way to a connection with my Wyoming Rail Link. He knows his few hundred miles of trackage just can't be competitive in today's world and he is threatening to sell the railroad to the BNSF. I also had to give him trouble about selling out to GE.

The bottom photo shows my current UB fleet. Along with the GP9 and the boxcar are a pair of GP50's I bought from Eric at a previous show. There is also a covered cement hopper he gave me when I invited him to an operating session on my layout. They are probably my most prized possessions, although Eric is much to humble a person to understand that.

map

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map Wrote:
> They are probably my most prized possessions, although Eric is much to humble a person to
> understand that.

You'd never know it from my choice of prototypes, but there hasn't been a greater influence on me in this hobby than Eric Brooman. So, while traveling to St. Louis back in the late 1990s for business, I eventually worked up the nerve to try to contact him. I left a message with a local hobby shop Eric was known to frequent, asking if it'd somehow be possible to see his layout in person. I never expected to hear back from him, but upon returning to my hotel after a weekend back home, I had a message from him inviting me over.

The next night I drove over and spent a really enjoyable couple of hours touring, and even operating, the original Utah Belt. As MAP mentioned, Eric's a really humble person, and a very gracious host. My visit there went by way too fast, but when it was time to depart, he presented me with a souvenir UB boxcar. I'm a prototype modeler to the core, but I'm as proud as could be to have that car on the layout. I've never even been able to bring myself to weather it.

I lost touch with Eric after his move later that year, but if someone here who knows him would please pass along my best regards, I'd be very grateful. He's a class act all the way.

Joe Atkinson

now that's a beautiful model, well detailed, and it looks real!

railtrekker Wrote:
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It's my railraod and I can
> have anything at anytime!

That definately sounds like the OLD Tony The K. . . .

Love the UB, very inspirational through out the years!

Well, Class 2 railroads still exist. MRL and FEC for two. Not sure if the UB would have to sell out/merge. Yes the route would be attractive, but maybe with the run through agreements to San Fransisco, Portland, and Los Angeles, the road would still be very viable.

I for one would like to see the Utah Belt in person. I would like to get a pic of my SD40-2 on his Layout. I think if he had a small run of decals made they would be gone very quickly. If some one knows how to contact him please let me know or pass my email onto him.

Mike Slater
SE Wisconsin Free-mo
mslater@wi.rr.com

wc581 Wrote:
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> I for one would like to see the Utah Belt in
> person. I would like to get a pic of my SD40-2 on
> his Layout. I think if he had a small run of
> decals made they would be gone very quickly. If
> some one knows how to contact him please let me
> know or pass my email onto him.

Didn't someone (LBF?) do a run of coal gons with the UB logo?

yes LBF did coal cars (I have 24 diffrent numbers)

Mike Slater

Maybe Athearn could do a run? SD70M's, AC4400's, GP50/60/40-2's, MP15AC's, the list goes on...

mcdeo Wrote:
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> Maybe Athearn could do a run? SD70M's, AC4400's,
> GP50/60/40-2's, MP15AC's, the list goes on...

Yeah, and some freight cars wouldn't hurt, either! How about some of them' covered hoppers or boxcars? I'd buy 'em!

I'd heard that the Utah Belt was going to be purchased by the BNSF, and BNSF would abandon much of the route except for the coal lines. I hear UP is going after Lee Nicholas's UCW and plans to abandon much of that as well. You thought it was bad that railroads would sue modelers for using their logos on products? Now they're getting serious about shutting down modeled competition as well. . ..

I've never met Tony K., but I have to credit his diesel-era AM as one of the biggest influences on my modeling. The first issue of MR I ever picked up was part I of the two part look at his layout (1988, maybe?), and I give it a lot of credit hooking me into the hobby. It was the first time I ever encountered a freelance road that was so convincingly put together and well, plausible. It's also why, since then, I've always been a proto-freelancer.

I acquired Midland Road RSD-12 #123 several years back, and it enjoys life inside a glass case on my desk. I did replace the original Dynatrol decoder with a modern DCC one, however, just so I could run it from time to time.

Nathan
http://www.drgw.net