Railroaders' Nostalgia > You didn't see this every day!

I remember bringing a routine MRL bridge train into Laurel Yard one afternoon back in the mid ‘90s. At the time BN and Santa Fe were in the middle of their courtship, and would soon merge. But Union Pacific was making their strategic -or whatever ya wanna call it- feint toward acquiring the Santa Fe for itself. That sent shivers of horror down the spines of a great many SFe fans like myself! We yarded our train with the usual instructions to “take the power back to the house”. When we got our BN power parked there I saw an unusual sight. Even for the Laurel Roundhouse engine yard, which was used to seeing all kinds of foreign power. In perfect morning sunlight there were 3 SD40-2 units lashed together: one BN, one AT&SF and one UP, in that order. The BN and Santa Fe units were pointed east with the UP unit pointed west in a consist which was perfect symbolism for the current ‘tug of war’ BN & Uncle Pete were having over acquiring Santa Fe. Of course, we all know who won that war. I was deep in the middle of my infamous railfan hibernation during that era. The scene was so remarkable that I actually had thoughts of running home to clean the cobwebs off my camera so I could come back down and burn a few slides. But I got side-tracked and never did come back to shoot. Another great opportunity missed, sighhh..........

When I scanned Tony’s slide with this UP/Santa Fe consist I knew I had to tell that story. A chance mating like this was just something you never saw, especially out in western Kansas...

1. UP 4267 + AT&SF 5129 are ‘partnered up’ in Hoisington, KS on June 28, 1990.
Original Kodachrome slide by the late Tony Fey.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Seeing a Santa Fe unit up here on the OSL was impossible until about the same time frame as this photo. Then we had one or two show up and I even had one on one of my trains to Green River about that time. When some of the Santa Fe units hit the lease fleet then it changed and we at least had ATSF paint show up regular.
But to be honest, I wasn't really all that impressed, never could understand all that Uncle John Santa Fe stuff!!  ; )

------- and to say the least, a MOP caboose.

Hoisington was an original Mop crew change point…

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tomstp Wrote:
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> ------- and to say the least, a MOP caboose.

MOP caboose to go with the ex-MOP unit up front!

Been there, seen it!  Now, curious as to what the yellow paint dots are on the inner side of nearest track rail?

rrman6 Wrote:
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> Been there, seen it!  Now, curious as to what the
> yellow paint dots are on the inner side of nearest
> track rail?


On the SP the road master would walk the tracks and mark the ties that needed replacement. Using the round painted can with a sponge to transfer the paint.

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That was (is still) a common way for M.O.W. guys to mark crossties for immediate replacement…

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Added: in my 9 years with the Santa Fe I caught a $#!+-load of work trains in MOW service. I had the distinct pleasure of watching a SFe Burro Crane opr named Sal Tovar work his crane, unloading bales of new crossties. With NO help from anyone on the ground he could swing his boom/hook down, snag the banding on a bale of ties, lift it up and drop it exactly on the little, day-glo marker flag. And 8 times out of 10 he could cause the banding to snap, letting the new ties spread out ready for the track laborers. It was ABSOLUTE poetry in motion that I will never forget… 😎



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/25 20:00 by santafe199.