Western Railroad Discussion > UP Super Bowl Special in PHX

UP's Super Bowl special snuck its way into Phoenix sometime yesterday or today. I grabbed a few photos of it in their yard just after sunset.

1 - The two ACe's that were pulling had run around onto the back, and were working on breaking the train up.

2 - View looking over the parking lots at UP's Phoenix auto rack ramp, with a bit of the surrounding razor wire along the bottom edge of the photo. The train has been split into two pieces, with good looking observation cars on the ends of both, and a lot of people in shiny vests looking at them. Anyone know what company the two red and silver pickup trucks belong to?
From what I see here, it looks like they already had the train setup so everything would be facing the right way when it leaves Phoenix rather than when it arrived.
Out of sight to the right were a lot of new Vette's that I wanted to borrow. Dang that razor wire!

3 - Closeup of the keg car that was on the rear end of the train. Does anyone know what these are actually there for? Drinking water supply for the train? Auxiliary steam tenders for the ACe's? Looks like UPP has a car specifically for hauling them.

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Nice photos.Man,I love that baggage car covered with the flag.Back to the pro Bowl
Regards,DK

the bulktankers are three massive beer kegs lol

Those are RJ Corman red and silver trucks.

Nice pics.

Posted from Android

DG .
Unknown, US

I thought they looked like Corman colors, didn't realize they worked this far west.

Posted from Android

Nomad Wrote:
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> I thought they looked like Corman colors, didn't
> realize they worked this far west.
>
> Posted from Android


Corman operates some auto ramps for railroads, that may be the deal.

gmojim

Potable water & diesel fuel. For times when we can't risk running out of either.

EmpireBuilder Wrote:
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> Potable water & diesel fuel. For times when we
> can't risk running out of either.

Exactly. For trains that will be parked a good long time and possibly w/o access to water, and so that the diesel generator HEP car will run for as long as they need (since for whatever reason?...the UPRR Psgr Car Fleet isn't compatible with the Amtrak HEP--except for the Sunset & Stanford--and thus cannot even use "yard HEP plugs"). The "Hurricane Katrina" Special that I ran many years ago had this 79 MPH-rated flat with the Bulktainers on it for this very purpose.

Anyone know if this train (these trains?) are making short runs in & out of Phoenix before next weekend? And/or when it's going to leave Phoenix after the game?

Red Wrote:
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> reason?...the UPRR Psgr Car Fleet isn't compatible
> with the Amtrak HEP--except for the Sunset &
> Stanford--and thus cannot even use "yard HEP
> plugs").

Who told you that ? UP HEP is different in how the under car junction box is done and we use portable jumpers, otherwise it is completely compatible with Amtrak HEP. If it wasn't we couldn't run the Sunset and Stanford with our other cars or hep with other roads cars and I can assure you we do. I have personally hep'ed those two into a train using one of the power cars. Also, on occasion Omaha will send cars out on Amtrak and they are take advantage of the free power. The majority of the U.P. cars do not have 27 pin or a M.R. line, but they go through a PC-1 annually and all mechanical work is done with attention to Amtrak requirements as a minimum standard. In most cases the U.P. standard exceeds the Amtrak requirements.

EmpireBuilder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Red Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > reason?...the UPRR Psgr Car Fleet isn't
> compatible
> > with the Amtrak HEP--except for the Sunset &
> > Stanford--and thus cannot even use "yard HEP
> > plugs").
>
> Who told you that ? UP HEP is different in how
> the under car junction box is done and we use
> portable jumpers, otherwise it is completely
> compatible with Amtrak HEP. If it wasn't we
> couldn't run the Sunset and Stanford with our
> other cars or hep with other roads cars and I can
> assure you we do. I have personally hep'ed those
> two into a train using one of the power cars.
> Also, on occasion Omaha will send cars out on
> Amtrak and they are take advantage of the free
> power. The majority of the U.P. cars do not have
> 27 pin or a M.R. line, but they go through a PC-1
> annually and all mechanical work is done with
> attention to Amtrak requirements as a minimum
> standard. In most cases the U.P. standard exceeds
> the Amtrak requirements.

I heard it on here. But you yourself state that only the UP Stanford & Sunset are able to run at the rear of Amtrak trains. I guarantee you that the Arden, Pocatello, or other UP biz cars are NOT compatible with the AMTK fleet, but they could run with their own self-contained gensets running, ostensibly. Though I think that only the Stanford & Sunset are "Amtrak-Certified" cars for the very reasons that you mention above.

Sunset and Stanford are fully certified, however with current PC1 and PC5 inspections, U.P. can run anything it owns behind Amtrak on U.P. lines, certified or not. That is the benefit of being a host railroad. U.P. will add cars using it's own switch engine to the CZ in Omaha if it is a better way to get the cars wherever. And yes, that is on BNSF. That being said, U.P. is limited to rear end only and cannot operate where there is MU. When I left the program we were moving closer to full certification, but with 50+ operating cars, it takes a while. One last thing, don't believe everything you read posted by some guy who talked to a guy. It's too easy to lose track of what's accurate and what isn't.

Empire Builder is correct, all of the UP's cars are Amtrak Compatible with Amtrak HEP electrically. The location of the connectors in UP cars does not conform to the Amtrak locations, requiring special jumpers to connect to Amtrak cars. I know this because I have inspected UP cars for Amtrak operation.