Western Railroad Discussion > A casual day of railfanning turns into a pursuit of an SP

For July 24, aka 'Pioneer Day', a few friends and myself met in the Ogden, Utah area as an excuse to just hang out and watch some trains. Fellow Trainorders member 'GrandeGold' was further up the line, showing some out of state visitors around. The area we chose was Riverdale Yard, which, although not perfect, provided fine morning lighting for trains moving east to Elko and SLC, and west to Green River. There was a rumor that UP 6408 (one of the few remaining patched SP AC4400CW locomotives) was on a manifest between Roseville and North Platte. The following series of pictures showcases the day's events.

Picture one: A C41-8W and an SD60M sit quietly in Riverdale Yard, part of the ever-growing fleet of stored locomotives in the Ogden area. The stagnation of these units is obvious, showcased in the missing door, creating the lettering 'We v deliver'. The future of these units remains unclear, but I'm willing to guess that they won't ever run under their own power again.

Picture two: The MROGR-23 takes an interesting path off the Salt Lake Sub, and onto the Evanston Sub by taking the Ogden Jct. wye instead of the usual path on the "runaround", located on the other side of the yard. The lead lashup was surprising, with two former AC6000CWs in the consist.

Picture three: The most notable of the two former AC6000s was 6915, sporting brand new 'Armour Yellow' paint. The thing that cracked me up most is that UP dedicated this locomotive as a C44ACCCA (I'm not making that up!) while most others are classified as C4460ACs or something similar.

...

Schon Norris
Salt Lake City, UT
Railroad Roll-By Podcast

---

---

---

Nice catch with the repaint!

Posted from Android

The high-noon lighting is beginning to come apparent, compromising decent shots at the yard. So we headed a little further to the north, where the Salt Lake Subdivision meets the Evanston Subdivision. There, we watched some of the yard jobs go about their duties. Then we heard the sound of a Nathan K5HL coming from the north, timetable west, as grain train GSSTBT-20 (Grain-Shuttle-Stockton-St. Paul) emerged with a patched SP second in the consist. To our surprise, it wasn't the assumed 6408, instead it was sister unit, UP 6216. We captured it as it drifted through Riverdale, and it was a unanimous decision by the railfan group to chase it as far as Emory, roughly 50 miles up the line.

Picture four: The grain shuttle cruises through Riverdale after a brief crew change at Cecil Jct. Utah Transit Authority's "Frontrunner" commuter train uses the flyover in the background. Also noteworthy is Willard Peak, which dominates the background.

Picture five: Our first photo location on the grade was the bridge at Peterson. Due to MOW work on the westbound track, the train took about 20 minutes to reach this location after we arrived. Note the conductor waving to the "foamers" on the overpass. He would get pretty sick of us by the time we bid farewell to the train.

Picture six: The shuttle enters one of the most iconic locations on the grade, Echo, Utah. The sound bounces off the surrounding cliff faces as the 3 GEs power their way through the quiet town. A line of 'repo' autoracks are stored just to the west in the center siding, a lightly tagged Burlington Northern one is among them.

Schon Norris
Salt Lake City, UT
Railroad Roll-By Podcast



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/17 16:46 by Scone_Empire.

---

---

---

Picture seven: A good look at the 6216. Third trail (6258) is also an SP unit, but has recently been repainted into Armour Yellow. It is sad to think that 6216 will look just like 6258 in just a few months time, part of the recent rush at North Little Rock, AR. to repaint all non-UP units. UP 6216 and sister 6258 trace their roots back to SP 303 and SP 251 respectively.

Picture eight: The train as it negotiates the 'S' curve at Emory, ducking under the Old Lincoln Highway. From here the train is nearing the end of it's Utah trackage before it enters Wyoming.

Picture nine: This was a fun chase, but as the last car dipped under the bridge and proceeded up the grade, I had my own reality check with the fact that it could easily be my last photographed SP unit in it's original colors. But with excitement in the industry, there's also some heartbreaks. That's the railroad cycle. Lets see what happens next.

Schon Norris
Salt Lake City, UT
Railroad Roll-By Podcast

---

---

---

The C44ACCCA locomotives are AC4400 and AC6000 that have a CIO (Consolidated Input/Output) and that are running CCA (Consolidated Control Architecture) software with SDISs (Smart Displays). While the AC6000 locomotive debuted the "new" control system, a basis for CCA, it has IOCs (Input/Output Concentrators), LPCs (Locomotive Process Controllers), VPCs (Video Process Controllers), and VIDs (Video Information Displays), all hardware thats gone with modern CCA running on EVOs and the C44ACCCA. However, these units are actively being converted to SCA (Simplified Control Architecture), though I doubt we'll see a C44ACSCA, primarily because CCA and SCA are fairly similar, but also because who wants to keep track of yet another special nomenclature.


DC

Looks like a nice chase. Thanks for sharing.

Kent in CArmel Valley

Actually, there is a chance the SD60M could run again under its own power.... After it's rebuilt as an SD59MX.

Brody Wyrick
Reno, NV

I'm pleased that the UP hasn't painted all of the SP units yet!!

rrpreservation Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm pleased that the UP hasn't painted all of the SP units yet!!


Are there any former SP units still with their original SP number? I assume if there are some it couldn't be very many.

Railbaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are there any former SP units still with their
> original SP number? I assume if there are some it
> couldn't be very many.

Nope. The last unpatched SP unit on the UP was SP 343. It became UP 6308 on 7/29/16.

DuneCoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The C44ACCCA locomotives are AC4400 and AC6000
> that have a CIO (Consolidated Input/Output) and
> that are running CCA (Consolidated Control
> Architecture) software with SDISs (Smart
> Displays). While the AC6000 locomotive debuted the
> "new" control system, a basis for CCA, it has IOCs
> (Input/Output Concentrators), LPCs (Locomotive
> Process Controllers), VPCs (Video Process
> Controllers), and VIDs (Video Information
> Displays), all hardware thats gone with modern CCA
> running on EVOs and the C44ACCCA. However, these
> units are actively being converted to SCA
> (Simplified Control Architecture), though I doubt
> we'll see a C44ACSCA, primarily because CCA and
> SCA are fairly similar, but also because who wants
> to keep track of yet another special
> nomenclature.
>
>
> DC

You lost me at CIO.

ble692 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Railbaron Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Are there any former SP units still with their
> > original SP number? I assume if there are some
> it
> > couldn't be very many.
>
> Nope. The last unpatched SP unit on the UP was SP
> 343. It became UP 6308 on 7/29/16.

I saw 343 and sister unit SP 169 (UP 6215) April 16th of last year, just a few months before 343 was painted yellow. I haven't heard a word on 6215 since that April day, but I hope it still survives in Scarlet and Gray.

Schon Norris
Salt Lake City, UT
Railroad Roll-By Podcast

---