Western Railroad Discussion > Tehachapi RailCAM at 14:39

Tehachapi RailCAM at 14:39 captured a Uncle Pete train. Can you ID the second unit of the consist. It looks like an ESPEE T-Motor with just "SP" on the long hood inspead of "Southern Pacific" letters.

Thank you in advance.

Hiroshi

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It's probably a SD40T-2 that UP repainted with leftover SP scarlet and grey. Supposedly, it was cheaper to just to use up the paint rather than disposing of it, and many SP units could of used the new paint. However, it still was cheper to just go with a simple "SP" on the long hood than spelling it out. Anybody know which units got this paint treatment?

I caught T-motor #8261 at the Baker Street yard in Bakersfield on Independence Day 2000. No speed lettering - just "SP".

VenturaBob

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cdub wrote:
>
> It's probably a SD40T-2 that UP repainted with leftover SP
> scarlet and grey. Supposedly, it was cheaper to just to use up
> the paint rather than disposing of it, and many SP units could
> of used the new paint.

John Bromley has mentioned that those repaints weren't done
with the blessing or knowledge of UP management, and were halted
after railfan reports of freshly painted SP units started working
their way back to Omaha. "Using up leftover paint" is the most
innocent explanation, but there's probably more to the story than
that.

> However, it still was cheper to just go with a simple "SP" on the
> long hood than spelling it out.

The white lettering on the nose and sides were Scotchlite
stickers rather than paint. I'd guess the shop only had the nose
"SP" stickers handy and not the full speed-letter "Southern
Pacific" stickers for the sides, so they used the nose stickers
in both places.

> Anybody know which units got this paint treatment?

Richard Percy's Espee Modeler's Homepage lists the following
units: 8232 8233 8241 8247 8250 8256 8258 8259 8261 8263 8296

Thank you everyone for the information on ESPEE unit.

Best Regards,

Hiroshi