Nostalgia & History > Idaho Files: UP 6936 0-60(?) In About 60 Seconds 1994

One of my favorite Lucky catches, near Swan Lake,Idaho July 1994 heading south. The 6936 came to a complete stop on the main, either for track maintenence, or to fix something, or to let an official or guest come up and take the throttle. Then she accelerates apparently full throttle and off into the country side. I especially like the smoke and sound at first part as her engines wind up, then her horn in the distance later. Those old communication poles sure do help to guage how fast her speed is progressing as she accelerates and gets up to speed!
I always used a "telescopic" microphone with the VHS camera back then, to pick up far away sound, and this time it really helped, as the highway was pretty far from the tracks, and the regular microphone wouldn't have picked up that sound.

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/18 00:39 by RailRat.

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Very nice Jim. Always liked the shuttle launches thoses things could do if you let them.

nice sound
 

Jim, I believe you captured an engineering special. My good friend, Mr W. Wimmer, who was the Vice President of Engineering for the UP, would take many trips across the system. These were a combination of inspection and planning events. He would have his division men riding their territory with him in the gallery car on the rear end. If you have ever watched one of these go by and peered in the back window as they passed you would likely see the gallery seats occupied by several men with binders open, going over plans for track maintenance projects and other projects.
He liked to have the DD40 for power and we were always glad to release it to him for his trips. Think about it, like in your second video, the train can stop anywhere, whether to look at something or meet a train on single track, and when departing within a mile could be back up to track speed.
The 6936 was also a test on some tracks too. I remember once when they decided to overnight in Cheyenne and they pulled into the Woolhouse siding on the north side of P-1. They pulled down thru the siding toward the depot and onto the business car spur whereupon the behemoth managed to spread the rail. After rerailing as they backed out Mr. Wimmer informed the Cheyenne Division track Supervisor that he never wanted that to happen again. So after they departed town that supervisor and his crews promptly took up the business car spur and replaced the old wood ties with steel ties, laid 133 pound rail and ballasted it with main line quality ballast.
Now, since Mr. Wimmer is among us retirees, I don't believe that spur has seen much action ever since they brought in the PTC training car years ago. But I would suspect those steel ties and heavy rail are still there.
And that's the rest of the story. Paul Harvey....B+Good Day.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/18 07:32 by Bob3985.

Thanks for your very interesting story Bob.
My Brother (Retired SP/UP) told me about these inspection trains, and some folks on the SP would call these "The Pain Train" referring to how the MTM for a particular Sub would be riding in that rear car along with upper management, and it was not so good for him every time a bump was felt in the rails, especially at bridges.

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/18 08:05 by RailRat.

Bob3985 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jim, I believe you captured an engineering
> special. My good friend, Mr W. Wimmer, who was the
> Vice President of Engineering for the UP, would
> take many trips across the system. These were a
> combination of inspection and planning events. He
> would have his division men riding their territory
> with him in the gallery car on the rear end. If
> you have ever watched one of these go by and
> peered in the back window as they passed you would
> likely see the gallery seats occupied by several
> men with binders open, going over plans for track
> maintenance projects and other projects.
> He liked to have the DD40 for power and we were
> always glad to release it to him for his trips.
> Think about it, like in your second video, the
> train can stop anywhere, whether to look at
> something or meet a train on single track, and
> when departing within a mile could be back up to
> track speed.
> The 6936 was also a test on some tracks too. I
> remember once when they decided to overnight in
> Cheyenne and they pulled into the Woolhouse siding
> on the north side of P-1. They pulled down thru
> the siding toward the depot and onto the business
> car spur whereupon the behemoth managed to spread
> the rail. After rerailing as they backed out Mr.
> Wimmer informed the Cheyenne Division track
> Supervisor that he never wanted that to happen
> again. So after they departed town that supervisor
> and his crews promptly took up the business car
> spur and replaced the old wood ties with steel
> ties, laid 133 pound rail and ballasted it with
> main line quality ballast.
> Now, since Mr. Wimmer is among us retirees, I
> don't believe that spur has seen much action ever
> since they brought in the PTC training car years
> ago. But I would suspect those steel ties and
> heavy rail are still there.
> And that's the rest of the story. Paul
> Harvey....B+Good Day.

i was so disappointed they  left 6936 behind that day, followed to near point of the rocks on coal mine roads



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/18 15:38 by dan.