Western Railroad Discussion > UP 1995 and UP 1996 Dumb Luck

Here are more cases of "dumb luck" with the UP Heritage units.

Just like New Year's Day in 2017, I was hanging out at Pepper Ave. at the east end of West Colton Yard in Southern California in middle of May this year, waiting for random trains to show up. Like 2 years ago, an eastbound intermodal train was approaching, but the lead unit was not visible due to the cars in the yard... until it was close.

Instead of UP 1989, I got UP 1995 as the nice surprise this time.

There was no urgency for me to post this report, since I already posted a timely heads up here on TO for this train (and the UP 1996 later) in case other members wanted to catch the train. Funny that two months prior in March, I caught the same pair of units, with UP 1995 second in consist, and UP 1996 briefly "leading" inside Roseville Yard.

I chased the UP 1995 along the Yuma Sub (Sunset Route), through San Timoteo Canyon and ending the chase near Banning. Entire train (ZLAME) is shown in the last clip.

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Later in May, I made a weekend getaway to Portland, OR. I stuck to my plan this time, and made it into a public transit only trip, no rental cars.

I got curious before I checked into my hotel, so I rode the TriMet MAX Yellow Line to Overlook Park station to overlook UP's Albina Yard.

What's this? I see UP 1996 moving around in the yard!

I guessed correctly that the crew was about to finish building the train, so after snapping a few photos, I hopped back on the Yellow Line train to Rose Quarter station. After a short wait, the manifest train with UP 1996 third in consist showed up near the Steel Bridge.

- View of UP 1996 in Albina Yard from Overlook Park.
- Crawling by a modified Gallery Car ("Blizzard Bus").
- Video of the train passing under the east end of the Steel Bridge.

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cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here are more cases of "dumb luck" with the UP
> Heritage units.
>
> Just like New Year's Day in 2017, I was hanging
> out at Pepper Ave. at the east end of West Colton
> Yard in Southern California in middle of May this
> year, waiting for random trains to show up. Like 2
> years ago, an eastbound intermodal train was
> approaching, but the lead unit was not visible due
> to the cars in the yard... until it was close.
>
> Instead of UP 1989, I got UP 1995 as the nice
> surprise this time.
>
> There was no urgency for me to post this report,
> since I already posted a timely heads up here on
> TO for this train (and the UP 1996 later) in case
> other members wanted to catch the train. Funny
> that two months prior in March, I caught the same
> pair of units, with UP 1995 second in consist, and
> UP 1996 briefly "leading" inside Roseville Yard.
>
> I chased the UP 1995 along the Yuma Sub (Sunset
> Route), through San Timoteo Canyon and ending the
> chase near Banning. Entire train (ZLAME) is shown
> in the last clip.

A train in need of a DPU.

Posted from iPhone

A few comments/questions:

1) nice shots and videos - thanks for sharing!

2) could UP put two grubbier-looking units behind 1995?   Scratch that - they probably could...

3) nice all-EMD lashup in your second vid - too bad 1996 wasn't leading, but nonetheless pretty cool!

4) that's a seriously tight S-curve - I would hate to live right there - major flange squeal!!

5) what the heck is a "Unit Blizzard Bus"???

Unit Blizzard Bus is the UP caboose set up to be put between 2 UP units to go out and rescue crews that are stranded in a blizard or to take a crew out to a stranded train. upkpfan

Always enjoy your videos, glad to see you haven't lost your touch!

rbenko Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A few comments/questions:
>
> 1) nice shots and videos - thanks for sharing!
>
> 2) could UP put two grubbier-looking units behind
> 1995?   Scratch that - they probably could...
>
> 3) nice all-EMD lashup in your second vid - too
> bad 1996 wasn't leading, but nonetheless pretty
> cool!
>
> 4) that's a seriously tight S-curve - I would hate
> to live right there - major flange squeal!!
>
> 5) what the heck is a "Unit Blizzard Bus"???

The doors are in a precarious place. It's the Blizzard Bus for the Portland Service Unit. Used as described above.

great catches and thanks for posting.

if it wasn't for "dumb luck," i'd be posting a lot LESS videos............

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