Western Railroad Discussion > Interesting string of locomotives

Saw an interesting string of power on a UP train last night in Arlington, Tx., near the General Motors plant...UP 3198 was in the lead, followed by a solid black HLGX 6815, marron/blue HLCX 6205, CSX 8119 and Wisconsin Central 6529..

the units were picking up a string of auto racks before proceeding on towards Dallas...

anyone know the history of the HLGX unit..was solid black (dirty though)..possible old NS unit?? and, too, was fooled by the HLGX and HLCX..what's the difference between GX and CX??

thanks

I had that unit the other night,and it is an old NS unit.The differnce is Helm Leasing Corp./Helm Leasing.I'm sure,goofy,you know what the X stands for.

I have heard that Helm Leasing has gone into partnerships with numerous other companies including GE, EMD and others. Usually the different reporting marks designate which partnership is involved.

And no, off the top of my head, I don't know which is which.

'Railroad Depot Reporting Mark Search' lists them both as Helm Financial Corp, although HLCX came from Fallen Flag shippers.

The HLGX units are joint Helm-GE owned. These units were built as N&W C30-7's. After NS retired them Helm upgraded them as C36-7E's. The HLCX 6205 is a former BC Rail nee KCC SD40-2.
Larry

It's got NS seats in it,and NS inspection reports,so I assumed...