Western Railroad Discussion > Southbound Redding Turn thundering through Chico, California

I caught UP 9914 cruising through Chico (UP Valley subdivision) this morning at 10:50. I'm guessing he had it at about 55 mph, it didn't take him long to clear town with the 25 or so cars. It's amazing how clean these locomotives can stay when not run through tunnels. However, I'm guessing they get probably get washed periodically in Roseville.
The second image was taken of another southbound at 11:24 of this mixed merchandise train that was running 2 x 2.
#1 was taken at 5th Street.
#2 was taken at 3rd Street.

Jan Austin
Chico, CA
J.G. Austin Photography

---

---

Does the UP get some sort of kickback for running excessive amounts of power on locals and haulers on the west coast?

Altho....stop the presses, call the neighbors, wake the kids....the monterrey local out of Watsonville Jct (CA) on monday had a single GP-38 for power. They were shoving south to firestone (spreckles jct) around 3 pm, with about a dozen cars...

No washing occurs in Roseville. Those nice new wash racks installed around 10 years ago are now simply covered pull up tracks to the ramp. Another waste of money.

As for overpowered locals, sometimes there is more than meets the eye. Just because the train is small now, the next day they may be large, and on a hauler like the Redding, the power makes a roundtrip. Not to mention I haven't been too impressed with those 9900's. They got a nice coat of paint, but an electrical hack job. Honestly the UP has taken a lot of the local units away and shoved them into deadlines to save money, at least in their eyes. Others mileage may vary as far as how successful that idea is in the end...

I like Pic 1!!

ble692 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No washing occurs in Roseville. Those nice new
> wash racks installed around 10 years ago are now
> simply covered pull up tracks to the ramp. Another
> waste of money.
>

Believe it or not, I saw the washrack in use today! I don't know if soap was being used, but the locomotives were getting sprayed hard with liquid!