Fresh ACe; New (to me) Location!
I was working late today, and thankfully Collin gave me plenty of motivation to wrap it up and get out of there when he let me know that this freshly-painted UP SD70ACe was headed my way, and already west of KC. This unit was released from North Little Rock on May 17th, so at this point, it was just six days from that point, and certainly on its first trip west.
This is at Willard, KS, about fifteen miles west of Topeka on the ex-RI "Topeka Sub," and the 8504 was leading the MASHN west along the Kansas River, along with the NS 9625, and CN 2718. Willard was once the site of "an eastward and a westward siding flanking the two main tracks. And, of course, a stock yard," as per Rock Island historian Patrick Lenahan, although you can clearly see that most all of that infrastructure is now gone.
For the railroad roster nerds out there, if "UP 8504" is tripping any alarms in your brain, it's because its predecessor was the 6,000 HP SD90MAC "Shamu" demonstrator, that was built as the no. 8204 before being renumbered to 8504. For clarification, this is a completely different unit than the 90MAC, but I knew that number rang a bell for a reason, and that's why!
Fresh ACe; New (to me) Location!
I was working late today, and thankfully Collin gave me plenty of motivation to wrap it up and get out of there when he let me know that this freshly-painted UP SD70ACe was headed my way, and already west of KC. This unit was released from North Little Rock on May 17th, so at this point, it was just six days from that point, and certainly on its first trip west.
This is at Willard, KS, about fifteen miles west of Topeka on the ex-RI "Topeka Sub," and the 8504 was leading the MASHN west along the Kansas River, along with the NS 9625, and CN 2718. Willard was once the site of "an eastward and a westward siding flanking the two main tracks. And, of course, a stock yard," as per Rock Island historian Patrick Lenahan, although you can clearly see that most all of that infrastructure is now gone.
For the railroad roster nerds out there, if "UP 8504" is tripping any alarms in your brain, it's because its predecessor was the 6,000 HP SD90MAC "Shamu" demonstrator, that was built as the no. 8204 before being renumbered to 8504. For clarification, this is a completely different unit than the 90MAC, but I knew that number rang a bell for a reason, and that's why!