Nostalgia & History > Mopac Monday

Northbound hopper train on the DeSoto sub near Glover MO.  I believe this is an empty ore train heading to either Pea Ridge or Pilot Knob to reload.  MP 6001 was one of just a handful of Mopac SD40-2s to have dynamic brakes and a Mars light.  Built as MP 3217:1 to BN specs for pool coal train service, she was later UP 3901, GATX 901, NREX 901.

msw
spokane

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Nice shot!  Might I ask where you found the info on this loco, renumberings, etc.

Thanks.

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Thanks, RC!  I got the roster data from these two sites:
http://www.trainweb.org/emdloco/756145.htm
http://utahrails.net/up-diesel-roster/up-diesel-roster-47.php#sd40-2-3900

The NREX number was a notation on the slide mount, and I'm not exactly sure where I found that.

msw
spokane

Very nice...

JG

I thought the 6000 engines were to Rio Grande specs.   BN had done away with mars lights by this time.b  Also i believe engines numbers 6021 and above did not have the lights but did have the dynamic brakes.   Corrections welcomed.

Thanks for posting the picture.

The nose features of the MP 6001 are definitely more similar to DRGW than BN.   The bell placement however is all MP as BN and DRGW didn't place theirs up on the body like that.   Did the three roads all use extended range dynamic brakes?  How about weight of the unit as that would be another option to compare?

tomstp Wrote:
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> I thought the 6000 engines were to Rio Grande
> specs.   BN had done away with mars lights by
> this time.b  Also i believe engines numbers 6021
> and above did not have the lights but did have the
> dynamic brakes.   Corrections welcomed.
>
> Thanks for posting the picture.

At the second link I posted - http://utahrails.net/up-diesel-roster/up-diesel-roster-47.php#sd40-2-3900, in the notes it states that Mopac 6000-6073 were built to BN specs, and that only Mopac 6000-6019 had the Mars lights in the nose.

msw
spokane