Western Railroad Discussion > SD70Ms moving?

I have seen a few SD70Ms moving east through La Grande, OR the last few days. They have been in the power consist running. I'm guessing these are units that were stored at Hinkle for a time as they are very faded and in places missing paint. Is UP needing to activate old power? Or, just using some power to get to the scrappers?

Awhile back it seemed like I was seeing more old engines in service. Both EMD and GE. At the same time the number of SD70M in storage at Missouri Valley seemed to be smaller.

I wonder if they pull old power that's fairly serviceable, ones that don't need mechanical work, to replace locomotives that need mechanical work above a specific cost amount, then placing the B/O power in storage. There seems to be a lot of power problems out there on locomotives of all ages.

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