Nostalgia & History > UP GP30/30B & 3 CB&Q GP30's w/reefers rolling into Cheyenne

Wonder how far west those 3 Q GP30's were when they were put on this train ... trying to find the date.

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green river is what people will say I think

> Wonder how far west those 3 Q GP30's were when they were put on this train 

Thanks for posting the shot, nice. 

The normal territory for the Q power was to run west to Green River on a "CB&Q Forwarder" train, then return back east to No. Platte on any train that needed power out of GR.  Many of the eastbound trains handled out of GR by UP-Q power had come down from Pocatello via the x-OSL.  OSL trains often ran with sets of power (a mix of various models of GPs & F units) assigned to a Northwestern District pool, so when they arrived GR with an eastbound train the power had to come off & turn back west.  That worked well, since sets of UP-Q power that had arrived on westbound trains were available and could be put on those OSL trains so they could continue east to No. Platte.  That was the typical operation, but as always, there were exceptions, such as having UP-Q power "stray" west of GR on occasion.

If anyone's interested in this topic, see the UP Historical Society's Streamliner magazine from last year (Autumn 2019).  The issue contains an article describing motive power management from the 1950s into the early 1970s, with a diagram of 1968 power pool territories that includes the UP-Q-PRR pool working at that time.  Here's a link for those interested:

Vol. 33 No. 4 Autumn 2019 – UPHS Company Store (myshopify.com)

Take care,

Mark  

I wonder how many of those engines were loading/made transition?  How would you even know with a B unit?