Western Railroad Discussion > UP E-Unit on One Car "Test" Train

I got a tip sometime late this morning of an unusual move down UP's Greeley Subdivision. The unusual thing about this move was that UP 949 (EMD E9A) was the only power assigned to this one car train, symbol PCYDV3 15. I received word it was called at 9:30am in Cheyenne and once I got out on the road, I saw it past Speer, WY at 11:28am. I decided to head up to the city of Greeley, Colorado at the old UP Depot, now used as a Chamber of Commerce building. I sat in the parking lot patiently wait when a southbound manifest showed up with a really long train. After the train went by, a friend of mine sent me a text telling me this train will go into the siding at Platteville so a southbound behind him can go by. And soon enough, the "Test" train showed up. After grabbing shots in Greeley, it was time for a chase. After getting past the traffic lights of Greeley, Evans, and La Salle, it was time to get ahead of it. Of course being a very light train and it's not freight, he will be haulin'. I got ahead of it at Peckham south of La Salle. Afterwards, I could not make it to Platteville in time so I headed south and went to Brighton where I met up with "highgreengraphics" there. I was told the train will hold the main at Brighton to meet a northbound manifest coming out of Denver since another southbound was in the siding at Hazeltine. After grabbing shots of the stopped train and chatting with other railfans that showed up, the northbound Denver - Green River, WY manifest showed up and took the siding. Once we grabbed our shots, we all set out and headed south. Of course traffic lights and a construction zone slowed me down and the train didn't take long to race out of Brighton. He got up to track speed quick that I only was able to settle for a pace pan shot near Henderson. I got stopped by more traffic lights so I gave up on the chase and headed home.

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1 & 2) UP 949 leads the "Howard Fogg" car through Greeley next to the former UP Depot, now the Chamber of Commerce.

3) The same train races by the grain elevator at Peckham.

Some more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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4) UP 949 South comes into Brighton and will hold the main at the south end of the siding for the manifest.

5) UP 7952 North pulls right into the siding at Brighton meeting the test train.

6) Racing along side the test train near Henderson on US-HWY 85.

Thanks for looking!

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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Terrific images! Thanks.

If I'm not mistaken The Howard Fog is the 209 which is the only surviving boiler dorm. I had not seen it since they put 6 wheel trucks on both ends.
Steve

Enjoyed the pan shot best. How fast was the train running at that point ?

Nice shots they need to run it down to colton to help the big boy make it back

Very nicely done John! You sure are taking some great photos these days. Jealous that I couldn't photograph this unusual move.

Jim Barton

Very nice. Really enjoy that last shot. Thanks for sharing.
Brian Stevens

wpjones Wrote:
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> If I'm not mistaken The Howard Fog is the 209
> which is the only surviving boiler dorm. I had not
> seen it since they put 6 wheel trucks on both
> ends.
> Steve

I believe the 207 and 208 are still on the roster, based out of Council Bluffs. Both are former boiler dorm cars with some modifications.

Great to see the 949 out and about. To the original poster, thanks for the photos.

Cheers!

Bob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/14 19:52 by up421.

Very strange move, but great job shooting it. I really like the pan shot as well.

- Jeff Carlson

Wonderful photos, really love the wide-angle ones.

Rich

tc Wrote:
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> Nice shots they need to run it down to colton to
> help the big boy make it back


Funny you should mention that...I believe it (the Howard Fogg, not the 949) is scheduled to do just that, along with a few other yellow passenger cars. Perhaps they are testing out its road worthiness prior to heading west.

KC

Super nice!

SantaFeRuss

When did UP start symboling passenger trains with the P? These have always carried an S symbol for as long as I've known (which, is granted, probably around 10 years since I've followed that sort of thing).

Pump

UPTRAIN Wrote:
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> When did UP start symboling passenger trains with
> the P? These have always carried an S symbol for
> as long as I've known (which, is granted, probably
> around 10 years since I've followed that sort of
> thing).
>
> Pump

They had P-Symbols years ago before they went to the S-Symbols. I guess they went back to P-Symbols as the psgr specials were intermixed in with customer specials which also carried the S-Symbols, which might simply be a few hot freight cars--a special train of high-wides or something, but I'm certain that this caused a certain amount of confusion. I think going back to the P-Symbols was a relatively recent change, however, within the last year or so?

Terrific photos, BTW!!!

The 207 and 208 are HEP cars. The boilers were replaced with Generators. This was done in the late 80's when the fleet was changed to HEP. I also believe they still have 5 axles. I wish they were used more, the newest power car is so ugly with the radiators above the roof line.
Steve

up421 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wpjones Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If I'm not mistaken The Howard Fog is the 209
> > which is the only surviving boiler dorm. I had
> not
> > seen it since they put 6 wheel trucks on both
> > ends.
> > Steve
>
> I believe the 207 and 208 are still on the roster,
> based out of Council Bluffs. Both are former
> boiler dorm cars with some modifications.
>
> Great to see the 949 out and about. To the
> original poster, thanks for the photos.
>
> Cheers!
>
> Bob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/14 16:37 by wpjones.

FrontRangeTrains Wrote:
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> 4) UP 949 South comes into Brighton and will hold
> the main at the south end of the siding for the
> manifest.
>
> 5) UP 7952 North pulls right into the siding at
> Brighton meeting the test train.
>
> 6) Racing along side the test train near Henderson
> on US-HWY 85.
>
> Thanks for looking!

Very nice work John. I am quite new to this hobby. What is meant by "holding the main at the south end of the siding" ? Congratulations on IOTD.

Regards, John M Breitigan

Fantastic series of photos. Congratulations on IOTD.

Ronda Thomas

jmbreitigan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FrontRangeTrains Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 4) UP 949 South comes into Brighton and will
> hold
> > the main at the south end of the siding for the
> > manifest.
> >
> > 5) UP 7952 North pulls right into the siding at
> > Brighton meeting the test train.
> >
> > 6) Racing along side the test train near
> Henderson
> > on US-HWY 85.
> >
> > Thanks for looking!
>
> Very nice work John. I am quite new to this hobby.
> What is meant by "holding the main at the south
> end of the siding" ? Congratulations on IOTD.
>
> Regards, John M Breitigan

A superior train will stay on the main track for a meet. The inferior train pulls into the siding to allow the other train to pass. I don't know if this line (I assume it is UP Denver-Cheyenne)has CTC but if the 7952 north had arrived earlier it would have cleared, the south switch would be restored, either manually or by the dispatcher, and the 949 would pass without delay.

Boy the E unit looks factory fresh.. How old is she?

Steve