Western Railroad Discussion > SP Light Packages?

Is there a comprehensive list anywhere of UP units that still retain their (patched out) SP style light packages? I know there are a few, but also that UP has tended to fabricate new noses for the ex-SP units when they go in for big repairs. Appreciated.

As far as I know no current UP units stilll sport the full SP light packages. Mant of the holes have been plated over others not.

Heck, there weren't any SP units with any kind of "SP Lighting Package" when the UP assimulated the SP in 1996.
SP had started the process of removing the extra lights even before the attempted SP-ATSF merger.

PHall Wrote:
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> Heck, there weren't any SP units with any kind of
> "SP Lighting Package" when the UP assimulated the
> SP in 1996.
> SP had started the process of removing the extra
> lights even before the attempted SP-ATSF merger.

Should've made clear- I'm referring to units with plated out light packages vs completely removed light housings (which UP has done with some units)

I have seen a few former SP or SSW locomotives that UP did a new patch job on the nose so it looked like they never had nose headlights but it seems most former pre-1987 delivered SP, SSW, DRGW, and WP locomotives still have the plated over light housings.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/22 22:57 by EricSP.

Most former SP/SSW units that had special housings for light packages still have them on the UP.    UP has only smoothed over a handful.    

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Heck, there weren't any SP units with any kind of
> "SP Lighting Package" when the UP assimulated the
> SP in 1996.
> SP had started the process of removing the extra
> lights even before the attempted SP-ATSF merger.

Actually there were a few that still had their lighting packages up to and past the 9/11/1996 UP takeover.  SP SD40R 7373 and 7384 were examples (I saw the former at SP's Dolores Yard still sporting lights after the merger), SP SD45R 7423 (also seen firsthand at Dolores post-merger, and later still retrofitted with UP-style ditch lights and still eqipped with Gyras), a handful of KC-assigned MP15ACs (some in Speed Lettering as well), and Cotton Belt SD45T-2 9265.  There were a few others, including some with L-windows.  These were documented pretty well in publications in the mid/late 90s like "SP Review" and similar railfan publications.  Of course, the remaining lights ... or with some models, the the units themselves ... didn't last too long after the takeover.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/22 01:21 by SP_8299.

Yes, my understanding is that the original question had more to do with the lobotomized version with the low-headlight housing intact (but no red emergency light, no full light package). I am not really an SP guy, and don't know which / how many of the GP38-2s or GP40-2s remain with this. But I can say -- since I was part of a conversation about this on here a while back -- that the only two UP GP60s that still have low headlights (which look a little different than the traditional SP light package, but are still definitely non-standard for UP) are 1064 and 1131, the former SP 9606 and 9607. And I would think that those three classes -- GP38-2s, GP40-2s, and GP60s -- are the only models left on UP that COULD have remnants of SP nose headlights...  (unless I'm missing something -- am I?) 

One further thought -- ScaleTrains did a run of UP SD40T-2s and picked units that had the remnants of the light package, so looking at which units they made models of could give some quick insight into which of that series wound up in UP paint with lobotomized nose headlight. But those are all long gone, of course... 

The first 20 or so GP60s delivered had the headlights low on the nose, all the rest were high between the number boards.

None of the GP60s were ever equipped with any type of light package.
G

ExSPCondr Wrote:
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> The first 20 or so GP60s delivered had the
> headlights low on the nose, all the rest were high
> between the number boards.
>
> None of the GP60s were ever equipped with any type
> of light package.
> G

Yep, sorry, I could have been clearer about that; was typing fast. The first twenty had low headlights (though no light package), and even most of those have been removed (though a couple remain).