Nostalgia & History > UP Centennial 6936 on Freigt Duty At Arnold Loop,Nevada 3-8-1995

Caught on video just before absolute sundown, UP Centennial 6936 was heading the Westbound NPMIZ, (North Platt,Nebraska to Milpitas,Calif.) with CSX and Conrail Power also. Back then, It seemed like foreign power on the UP was sure to be found on the NPMIV or MINPV (The "V" in train designation meant "Vans", as in Automobile carrying Vans), And a Hot or Priority Van train would replace the "V" with a "Z" symbol. On this day we see UP 6936 called to service, and Rounding the ex WP Arnold Loop west of Wendover, Nevada, in the middle of Nowhere. I made the journey up to this desolate location specifically to catch this moment. My VHS Video Camera at this time had a hard time in low light situations. So Video is a bit fuzzy, but acceptable, enough to get the passage documented. No Horn at this time, because the vehicle crossing at Arnold had been eliminated by now. Notice the only headlights were the Ditch lights, because 6936 was still having a few electrical problems with the original headlights? Not sure if this was before or after her Rebuild, But she was burning up headlights like crazy back then for some reason.

Not sure if other Railfans may have caught this same train on camera, at points further west the next day?

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/18 13:13 by RailRat.

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As I recall on BN locomotives in the headlight circuit was a rheostat that acted as a resistor, and one could change headlight intensity by adjusting it. Perhaps on this unit it was set too high to prevent overcurrent to the headlight bulbs. Engineers aren't supposed to mess with this stuff and fuel pad electricians won't do much except change bulbs, likely needed to go into the shop for this otherwise-simple adjustment. === === = === JLH

Back in the good old days when the railroad was actually running some trains on that line...not that way nowadays. UP must have really been short of power to be using the 'Big Jack' in freight service. Thanks for the look back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/18 11:01 by SPSF.

Saw the same 3 sets on a detour a few weeks later, this is also when I reminded myself never ever forget your camera! A week or 2 after that shot the Feather River got shut down by mudslides so all UP Nor Cal freights had to detour over the aAnta Fe, saw a good number of them during that time when I worked at the Taco Bell in Mojave at the time, nice video Rat!