Western Railroad Discussion > SP-187 and an unfortunate cousin yesterday on the OSL

Yesterday, in the parade of trains passing my front door comes SP-187 and a patched-out cousin. Nothing really special, right? Given that SD40's and older machines are now a thing of the past. And, that fallen flags schemes get fewer by the day; pics of these guys may become hard to come by in just a couple of years, if that long. Case in point, the unfortunate UP-6271. It's only a matter of time before someone sends it to get a full coat of yellow paint and 187 as well. So, here are a few for you SP fans to enjoy while they're still in Scarlet and Grey. Bob

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Well in at least terms of UP the fallen flag paint is hard to find, BNSF still has tons of variety.

Bob,your a lucky man to get a house so close to the mainline and to be able to keep track of the action while doing house stuff,how fast do they run by?

You heard it here...I will venture to say that most of those SP AC4400's will be retired in SP paint. They're getting up in age at the same time UP continues to gorge on new GE's. There will not be a systematic program to shop them for paint.

Answers to questions from above:

1. Original plans were to get a property big enough and next to the tracks to run my 15" guage railroad. After two years of trying, we have now had a slight course correction and will be selling the railroad and looking at other RR related pursuits. Know anyone wanting a fine 15" guage home built train and railroad? Contact me via PM.

2. Speeds through here vary depending on the traffic, etc but are generally 50-60mph. Anytime I see a slow mover I'm looking to see if there is a meet either at Bliss or up at Fuller.

3. I don't personally know how old those SP units are so I just figured when they got a good shopping they might be in line for a paint booth also. All the more reason to shoot them when you can.

Bob

Highly unlikely that UP will be retiring these units anytime soon. If you are ever in Cheyenne, WY, Kansas City, MO or along their E-W mainline, you'll see a lot of Southern Pacific power (patched and unpatched) AC4400s, on coal trains, unit grain trains and manifests. The websites list only two C44-9Ws in SP paint (patched), but many AC4400s. Doubtful in this economy that Uncle Pete will repaint them to Armour Yellow until they need a new major overhaul but look for the AC4400s to be around awhile...either in UP or SP paint.