Western Railroad Discussion > Can I get a number?

Can some kind soul out there supply me with a carbody number for this thang? With the modern marvels of sharp digital photography I’ve gotten lazy and stopped taking notes to secure any & all engine/car/equipment numbers matched with locations. But this doesn’t work so well when you have to shoot at a very sharp angle...

1. UP 958400* sits stationary near the west end of Porubsky’s Curve in Topeka, KS on June 1, 2020.

2. Zooming back on ‘above’.

Thanks for the help!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

*see "4th District" & "MP555" replies below:



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/20 04:51 by santafe199.

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Only thing I can see is "relco".

4thDistrict Wrote: > ... 15 seconds on Google ...

WOW! Thank you very much! I thought about trying the on-line thing, and have had mixed results with Google. No doubt the unsuccessful attempts were because I didn't know how to correctly word an entry. And the times I've been successful were after 2-3 or more attempts. Thanks again...

Lance/199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/20 11:31 by santafe199.

Sad that since they call it MOW equipment they don't have to call T&E to operate it.  Used to be fun to work a work train for some people.

I assume there's an SD40-2 under there somewhere.

I would like to offer a contrary opinion about whether this should be considered MOW equipment or not. Over my 48 year career working for Class 1's on track and structures maintenance and construction, I would hate to try to count the time and money the company has lost due to lack of train crews to handle MOW equipment.

When you have a 40-60 person tie gang standing around because the train crew needed to distribute ties ahead of them did not show up, showed up 4 hours late, stopped in the middle of the very narrow work window for "beans", took an hour after arriving on site to read their orders before climbing on the locomotive and on and on and on, it wears on you. When it is your budget that gets mailed for this and you have absolutely no control over this cost, is it any wonder that you try to figure out a way to regain some semblance of that control? 

I fully realize this is a minority position for most here on TO and hope that I am not going to trigger a flame war. That is not my intention. 

I'm not allowed to run the train
The whistle I can't blow
I'm not allowed to say how far 
The train's allowed to go
I'm not allowed to shoot off steam
Or even ring the bell
But let the damn thing jump the track
And see who catches hell

Most of you are more familiar with the last word in the third line being "fast" instead of "far". I will submit that the track people are actually the ONLY ones who are qualified to say how fast (determining the speed limit) the train is allowed to go.

Just the opinion of one who has caught my share of hell

The cab looks like a design on Australian Locomotives.

What some people may not realize is that this type of equipment is nothing new.  Herzog's MPM and Georgetown Rail's SPS have been doing the work that this UP work equipment does for many years, without engineers, conductors and brakemen.  UP is now bringing this in-house, for their own BMWED employees to operate, and eliminating endless equipment lease payments to companies that do not pay into Railroad Retirement. 

This is not necessarily UP 958200. There are now four power units produced by RELCO: UP 958200, 958300, 958400 and 958500.  The 958400 was in Topeka during May 2020...

stanhunter Wrote:
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> I assume there's an SD40-2 under there somewhere.

It sure does look like a "F40C-2" to me as well given the layout of the air intake/fans/radiator package on the 6 axle trucks. Is there a reason they needed the cowl body design rather than the traditional SD40-2 body?

What type qualification does the operator have to have to operate that thing? Also what about brake tests ,knowledge of the road, eyc;or does that not matter? Also how fast van this contraption run? Thanks Sam

MP555 Wrote: > ... The 958400 was in Topeka during May 2020 ...

Thanks for the further info! I'll make the adjustment...

Lance/199

What railroad did you work on that had the ties being distributed right a head of the tie gang?  On the 3 railroads I worked over 42 years the ties were laid out weeks and sometime a month a head of the gangs.  I did my share of work train service working with the MOW gangs, and I remember just the opposite the T&E crews waiting for the MOW gangs.  In my career the 2 departments worked together very well and usually never complained of each other.  Except when the company started using equipment like this or big Semi trucks to move cars and equipment costing T&E jobs.   You must have come from another Road than I.

The tie gang reference was a place holder (a poor choice on my part, sorry) for the many different situations where the lack or delay of a train crew delayed MOW work. Be it a tie gang, rail gang, weed sprayer (why do you think they are all hirail now?), whatever. 

I agree that in most cases the departments worked very well together (usually after a lot of swagger on all sides about who was really in charge). It was my job to make sure they did and after some false starts we developed a very good working relationship in allocating track time and having equipment and material where it was supposed to be on time. 

However, there are always the exceptions. It was these exceptions that contributed to top engineering people talking to the equipment suppliers to find out how they could get the work done without having to leave a large part of the work outside their control. Call it a power grab, technological advancement, union busting, safety improvement, innovation, whatever you want. This has been a part of this industry from day 1. (meaning circa 1825 and before in England)

Everyone is trying/having to do more with less. Unfortunately sometimes this means you find out the hard way that the absolute minimum number of people you need to maintain a portion of track is at least one more than you have in the budget. See my earlier remarks about who catches hell.



 

4thDistrict Wrote:
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> 15 seconds on Google and here is the answer.
> Searched for "Union Pacific MOW equipment". It was
> the first image that came up. 

That is not the same unit... Look at the text on the nose, above the logo.