Western Railroad Discussion > Fading,But Still Alive:Coal Trains over Soldier Summit

Recorded last week here are  several images of the Intermountain Power Project coal train out of CV Spur destined to the power plant near Delta,Utah.The first image is the rear DP near Castle Gate with an unusual visitor to coal country trains.The second pictrure is the same train between Colton and Summit.The manned midtrain helpers were cutout at Colton.The third image is west of Castilla Crossover.The train was 2x2 with four midtrain manned helpers.It was a grand show to see leaving Helper.Bill Webb

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Great photos. Thanks for sharing them.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

That remote is a bit unusual, Cali refugee.

Out

callum_out Wrote:
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> That remote is a bit unusual, Cali refugee.
>
> Out

Thought the SD59X's weren't to leave the state since they were specifically rebuilt for service in California to keep the CARB happy.

PHall Wrote:
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> Thought the SD59X's weren't to leave the state
> since they were specifically rebuilt for service
> in California to keep the CARB happy.

They have escaped a few times over the years. The SoCal group, UP 9901-9909, have been mostly stored recently, along with lots of other units on the UP. The NorCal group, UP 9910-9927, have been working all along.

Great stuff thank you for sharing!
MILW86A

Very nice trio.

Great shots!

callum_out Wrote:
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> That remote is a bit unusual, Cali refugee.
>
> Out

Why would they put DC power (SD59x) on a Coal Train with other AC power in the consist? A very odd choice.

Nice shots and really nice location you shot.
Brian Stevens

Great shots!

BB

ble692 Wrote:
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> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thought the SD59X's weren't to leave the state
> > since they were specifically rebuilt for
> service
> > in California to keep the CARB happy.
>
> They have escaped a few times over the years. The
> SoCal group, UP 9901-9909, have been mostly stored
> recently, along with lots of other units on the
> UP. The NorCal group, UP 9910-9927, have been
> working all along.

Being placed in storage, has this model been a failure similar to the Gensets, etc?

wyeth Wrote:
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> Being placed in storage, has this model been a
> failure similar to the Gensets, etc?

They are fairly reliable, certainly more so than the Gensets. The UP has just been storing all kinds of units, even brand new C44ACM rebuilds.

Nice shots. Thanks for posting these.

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

Good stuff, Bill.  It's been a long time since I've seen coal go over Soldier.

Yep, the SD59MX was actually quite successful for UP from what I've learned. The only reason they didn't get more was deciding to go into the C44ACM program instead.

I've also heard tell of a large rebuild program for the SD70M's to SD70ACC's based on the success NS had, but it got shelved until/if the economy eventually recovers.

ble692 Wrote:
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> wyeth Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Being placed in storage, has this model been a
> > failure similar to the Gensets, etc?
>
> They are fairly reliable, certainly more so than
> the Gensets. The UP has just been storing all
> kinds of units, even brand new C44ACM rebuilds.

Spectacular photos!

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