AC44C6M & Variants
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After leaving Roseville in the early evening, this rather short eastbound approaches Donner Summit as it travels through Norden. Trailing behind the freshly painted AC44 is a brand new set of Siemens products for Via Rail. Siemens assembles the chargers, venture coaches, and other rail products in Sacramento less than 100 miles away. After leaving Sacramento, the Union Pacific will take it halfway across the country before handing the set off to another railroad to take it the rest of the way to Canada.
The second image ever I have taken from here and in exactly the same circumstances as the first - Amtrak has the high ground. An eastbound UP sits on the Westbound at the east end of their Western Avenue Yard, awaiting a new crew. The morning Builder comes down Shortline Hill on CPKC trackage with some matching Chargers on the point.
About the same time that I was walking out of work after a 12-hour day, I got a text from Grumpy about a freshly-painted UP AC headed my way, and given the evening light situation, I was in no position to say no that! I had my camera with me already, and dinner can wait a bit, right?
Anyway, I finally caught up with the train (and the tipster) as it was rolling to a stop at MP 61 in Grantville. The train was the MSANP-28, and it was led by the UP 7087, a 1997-built Erie product. It has since been rebuilt as a C44ACM.
A mix of UP and Norfolk Southern locomotives pull Union Pacific's priority Denver - Long Beach Z train through quiet Echo, Utah the evening of April 8, 2023. C44ACM 7247 appears particularly clean and fresh, a recent rebuild from Wabtec in Fort Worth. Lettering along the engine compartment hood is an alternative to "Futura", a standard UP type font for decades.
UP 6965, a Wabco C44ACM rebuild, shoves a PLCCB 23 at Salt Lake Central on May 24, 2023. The unit was built UP AC6000CW No. 7576 by GE in Dec. 2000.
Union Pacific 7286 leads a Roseville, California - North Platte, Nebraska manifest along Interstate 84 in Peterson, Utah • 4.15.2023
A Wabtec rebuilt C44ACM locomotive leads a Black Thunder, Wyoming - Intermountain Power, Utah coal train through Tooele Valley between Erda and Warner, Utah the afternoon of June 17, 2023. A line of trees and brush mark the shore of Lake Bonneville, a 980 ft. deep, 20,000 square mile lake, which drained 18,000 years ago into what is now the Great Salt Lake.
I rarely spend time photographing UP's 34 mile Salt Lake Subdivision. The surroundings are not particularly scenic, bordered by the I-15 superslab, heavy traffic, warehouses, and housing developments. When I saw this move, I had to give chase. The MROOG 06 (Roper to Ogden transfer) rolled by with a single GE C44ACM leader. It was relatively clean, so I gave chase. Being the journey would be in the thick of rush hour traffic, my options were limited. I decided to go for Cherry Hill with the sweeping 2 degree curve at Burton Lane in Kaysville. I managed to arrive with five minutes to spare, and would later discover the train had 235 cars, 82 loads, 153 empties, 15,671 gross tons, 13,938 feet of train, 1x1x1 DPU, all GEs.
6151, 4133, 7981, 4072, 4618 & 4198 approach Heavener whilst hauling a northbound manifest train, 7 Oct 2022
A Wabtec C44ACM rebuild leads a Union Pacific GSTUCT 03 grain empty less than 1/2 a mile from the 6799 ft. summit at Wahsatch, Utah on May 6, 2023. The Tulare, California - Carleton, Nebraska "PSR monster" had 230 cars (30 loads, 200 empties), 9,460 tons, and 14,975 ft. of train, 1x1x1 DPU. The empty grain hoppers are hidden from view at the rear of the train.
The sun is setting as UP 7010 has made it about halfway back to Mojave from Searles as they pass by the small settlement of Cantil, CA. This train is hauling outbound cars from Trona Railway.
After a problematic ZLCTM finally started to get on the move, the MGRRV would be one of the first of a handful of trains to get on the move again. After departing Brock, a little over 10 miles from Roseville, the train wasted no time clearing those last few miles as it’s seen just south of Sunset Whitney. Not far behind the frame is milepost 110, only a couple of miles from the yard in Roseville where the train will terminate.
UP 6965, a fresh Wabtec C44ACM rebuild, teams with UP SD70M 4533 to shove the 10 car PLCCB 23 to the Amtrak station in Salt Lake City on May 24, 2023. It's a shame this train cannot access the beautiful UP passenger station, landlocked and less than three blocks from this location.
UP 6960 leads the MKSTP (Kansas City-Topeka Manifest) into Topeka, just north of CP Z067, and Porubsky's Curve. Once it's around the curve, it'll take the Squirrel Switch into the yard.
This AC60 Convertible was built in December of 2000, and repainted WITH the flag back in 2015 (flic.kr/p/zjM6xa). However, it burnt to a crisp earlier this year (flic.kr/p/2od99mw), was sent to GE in Ft. Worth, and rebuilt into a C44ACM with the flagless paint scheme du jour.
UP 6910 west, ZDUNP 03
It's not often that I get time to take a photo of my own train, but this hot shot strolled up to the platform in preparation for a crew change only minutes after we were notified that we would be swapped. I was previously called against a Herington-bound shit freight that was slated for multiple work events and would have made for a bad day. I've been wanting one of these rebuilt AC6000's as a leader ever since they started rolling out of Wabtec's Ft. Worth facility, and this thing did not disappoint; it rode nicer than any other C44ACM that I've ever had for a leader. Attentive modelers and rivet counters will notice that these locomotives have new cabs fitted during the rebuild process, and I can only assume that it further aids in the fitting of the new cab electronics, as an added bonus this particular refurb had a significantly smooth ride quality. To make the trip even better, T/O ran this thing like an actual Z train for once and it made for a 6.5 hour trip which included our work at Neff. Every once in a while, I get a winner.
UP 6910, a C44ACM, was built as UP AC6000CW #7523 in September 1998. These locomotives were delivered with the ability to produce 6250 traction horsepower and were among the most powerful locomotives available from manufacturers at the time. In 2008, this locomotive, along with many of its GE brethren over time, were de-rated from 6250hp to 4400hp due to problems with the GE-Deutz HDL prime movers. This also instated a renumbering process from the 7500-series to the 6898+ numbering series. This locomotive obviously given the number 6910 and continues to wear it despite years of continuous renumbering of the UP fleet. The 7500-number series would eventually be worn by the later GE Evolution series locomotives that were delivered to the UP between 2011 and 2012.
Recently refurbished C44ACM #6941 leads a Westbound empty Oil train at the West switch at Dotsero.
It was originally built as 6,000 horsepower AC6000CW #7553.
UP 7010 leads westbound towards Mojave at the ghost town of Garlock, CA. Although everything in the town is fenced off, if you're driving along Garlock Road you can still see all of the old structures from what was once the town of Garlock.
The sun has already dropped below the horizon, and the day is coming to an end, but for the railroad it is not. As BNSF H-BARPAS sits in the siding, a headlight can be seen gliding down the side of Table Mountain. With the final light lighting up the train, a UP manifest rolls through Kramm. Not long after, the BARPAS would leave. The BNSF was interesting, hosting foreign power and on the rear an SP caboose.
Earlier this month, the last active SP signal bridge on Donner Pass was removed from service. Brand new sets of signals were put up on both of the crossovers in Truckee to replace the nearly thirty year old signals installed shortly after the SP went out. This bridge has been the lone active survivor since the signal bridge and searchlights at Norden were torn down on Thanksgiving of 2021. Despite the fact that it was the last active bridge, it isn't the last one standing. Several of these old bridges still stand in places such as Verdi, Yuba Gap, and Andover, which is just west of Truckee. Some of them even still have searchlights, though a signal indication hasn't showed for many years.
Since the Truckee bridge is bound to come down soon, I took a morning to try and catch one last eastbound go under. Although traffic was slow due to it being the weekend and there was a stalled stack train at Alta, just before 10 AM the MRVGR would show up. Prior to this, the only other trains that had passed in the previous few hours were the ZG2LT and the MROMI, which had cleared Truckee about twenty minutes before the manifest came through.
Union Pacific's ZDVLB 15 departs Ogden, Utah with a fresh Wabtec C44ACM rebuild the evening of March 15, 2024. UP 9798 was built Chicago & North Western C44-9W No. 8694 in April 1994.
No train chase east of Ogden along UP's Evanston Sub would be complete without a capture in Echo Canyon. This perspective at mile post 949.25 is a perennial favorite, even by company photographers.
Union Pacific dispatched a 12-car passenger special from San Luis Obispo, California and Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 23-25, 2025.
UP 5882, a graduate of Wabtec's C44ACM program, pulls the train past the ruby conglomerate cliffs on May 24, 2025.
Until the streamlined E-units return to service, this will have to do.
Evening light shines on a brand new C44ACM (ex-AC60) rebuild leading northbound MAGHO 23 towards Houston, passing Hastings siding on BNSF's Mykawa Sub.
With lighting being anything but cooperative for the entire chase, the last shot of the day made it all worth it.
The way this gypsum ended up on the West Valley was odd. The inbound loads had arrived very early Sunday morning, and was a last minute reroute. Originally, this train was supposed to go to the West Side Line out of Tracy, but at the last second for some reason it was rerouted to the West Valley, destined for Artois. Keep in mind, the two lines serve different customers, and not even my friend who was on the train knew what was going on with that. Although this train was around 140 cars, unloading it took very little time. It was almost fully unloaded in under 48 hours, but the crew unloading it ran out of hours with just six cars left to unload. On the day the train departed, the outbound crew would have to spend an hour getting the last of the cars unloaded.
The crew got on duty in Woodland at 04:30, then were driven up two hours to their train. The customer's crew in charge of unloading the remaining cars was supposed to arrive around the same time, however, a miscommunication had that crew showing up at 09:00. Once it hit 10, everything had been unloaded and the crew of the southbound backed their cut to the rest of the train. Due to the fact they still had to do an air test, the entire train would be pulled up to a spot where no crossings would be blocked. At 10:50, they departed south to hand it off to UP.
Although the crew was wasting no time getting the empties back to UP, the crew did run into a few delays. Just south of Willows, they would stop to flag a disabled crossing for County Road 57. Around twenty miles south of that at Maxwell, a speed restriction to 10 MPH was in place, not sure for what though. Only a couple miles later, the train would have to stop again at Cortena as the Cortena Job was setting out and picking up cars in the siding, using both tracks. After finishing up, the gypsum would move up to the south end of the siding, stopping for awhile. After that, the train would stop one more time in Davis.
When they got to Davis, two Capital Corridors would be lined before them on the UP. Since this train would be blocking almost every major route to get across town, and it was rush hour, they would be held at the furthest north crossing, 8th Street, before being able to move again. The UP crew was already waiting at the station, so once both Corridors had cleared they would walk over to the top of the wye. By the time the train reached 3rd Street, where the crew change happened, it was greens all the way into Sacramento for the gypsum. Swapping crews only took a couple minutes, with UP's crew getting the train out of there seemingly as soon as they sat down.
Of course since I was in Davis I had to shoot the train under the signal bridge. UP's Martinez Subdivision, which is the mainline through Davis, is almost entirely newer signals. While most of the signals are of course the modern Safetrans you see everywhere, some are older styles installed shortly after the SP's demise. Today, Davis is an oddball, still holding onto SP era searchlights. While I'm not sure what has kept these signals here for so long, it appears that for now the searchlights are not going anywhere. Hopefully, it stays that way for many years to come.
Hope you all have an amazing Christmas.
Donner Pass is full of old signal bridges, and shot here is one of them. Places such as Reno, Verdi, Yuba Gap, and Andover, the place in this photo, still have old SP era signal bridges standing. Over the years, several have been knocked over, the most recent of which being the one in downtown Truckee earlier this year. Although eventually all of these inactive bridges will be knocked, for now UP is keeping them up while they focus on more important tasks for maintenance to handle.
As the morning sun shines into the Coldstream Canyon, the eastbound ZLTG2 roars through the canyon as it makes its way into Truckee. Right after getting this shot, I would continue following it to Reno as there were no westbound trains in the area to follow. Even after getting lunch later in the day, there was still nothing, making this the only train I would shoot that day.
After word got around that the OCS was headed west out of Ogden, it was clear the train was headed for California. After reaching Sparks, the train would stay the night and depart around 8:30 the following morning. I headed up the mountain and stopped in Colfax to take care of some things. By the time I was done, I didn’t know where the train was other than it had passed Shed 10 some time ago. I was headed for Casa Loma but realized that if I went there I might not make it, so I settled for Alta instead. I’m glad I did, as upon arriving I didn’t even have time to turn the car off before the crossing activated. I quickly spun the car around and rolled the widow down to get this photo. Although I was aiming for a different shot at Alta, I knew that there was a chance this was going to happen and the photo wasn’t bad.
A Wabtec C44ACM rebuild leads a Black Thunder, Wyoming to Intermountain Power, Utah coal train through Tooele Valley, between Erda and Warner, Utah on June 17, 2023.
Along the mountain, a line of trees and brush mark the former shore of Lake Bonneville, a 980 ft. deep, 20,000 square mile lake, which drained 18,000 years ago into what is now the Great Salt Lake.
Tonight's ZDVLB 30 departs the heart of Ogden, Utah approaching 19th West street with a fresh Wabtec C44ACM rebuild in the lead.
In the middle of my run on the elliptical today, I got a text that this super clean Tier 4 EMD was leading a manifest my way, and well, the workout can be split into two halves, right? Well, it might not be the best thing to do, but I managed to get the shot AND I went back and finished my run!
Here, the UP 3012 and C44ACM (AC60) rebuild no. 7053 lead a westbound manifest (MDMHN, possibly?) from Main1 through the crossover at 67, and onto the Topeka Sub at CP Z068, aka "SJ Jct."
CSX I191 heads west through Riverdale Illinois on the Barr Subdivision with a KCS SD70MACe leading a UP C44ACM
It was around 2:45 AM in Colfax on December 13, 2025. As you could imagine, everyone in the small town was sleeping, but not for long. At this time, the nightly IOANP, Oakland, CA to North Platte, NE stacks, were headed through town. The train was making its way through downtown, that is until about halfway through the train. As it made its way through town, all of a sudden it came to a screeching halt, and the sound of derailed cars I'm sure woke everyone living near downtown up. However, it would take a minute before anyone knew what happened.
Listening to the radio chatter, it started with the crew talking to the dispatcher, nobody had a clue what just happened. At first, they thought something snapped, a coupler or hose, so the conductor hopped off as they made an attempt to fix the problem. They spent over 20 minutes trying to regain air, including closing anglecocks. Then just before 3:08, that's when they found out. The conductor said the train had split, then the dispatcher was talking to the crew when the conductor, clearly in shock, cut him off stating "Nah you guys, it's uh... derailed." Derailed it was, several cars had bunched up and some tipped over, making both tracks unusable in the process. The dispatcher was speechless, eventually coming back to state "I'm gonna have to ask you a million questions from RMCC," which is UP's Response Management Communication Center. Shortly after, an army of MOW crews were dispatched out to the scene.
This derailment came at a very inconvenient time, both Z trains were due to go up Donner within a few hours, the westbound ZG2LT would be held in Weso, NV and the eastbound ZLTG2 would be called. However, with no estimate as to when the tracks would reopen, the westbound would be rerouted over the Feather River Canyon. The eastbound on the other hand would sit in Lathrop until further notice, and it was being considered to split the train in half and send it over the canyon as well. Eventually, word got out that track one would reopen in reasonable time, so the full eastbound would be sent up Donner, being held at Colfax until the track was completely fixed. When it was, the train slowly rolled through at a speed restriction of 5 MPH. Now that one track was back open, trains could finally continue to run their regular routing. Since track two was in very rough shape though, a maintenance train would be built and sent out of Roseville with ballast and tracks, which would be to rebuild the completely mangled right of way. As evening hit, Colfax held its annual Winterfest, with the main attraction accidentally being a derailment cleanup. As the evening turned to dark, several eastbound trains and a westbound were sent through. The first one was the MRVGR, Roseville, CA to Green River, WY manifest. The next one, which is the one in this photo, was the MRVNP, Roseville, CA to North Platte, NE manifest. Afterwards, a westbound manifest and two empty grain trains would pass, though I did not stay for those.
After the MOW train arrived, I watched as crews got the right of way ready to rebuild the track. When I had initially arrived, the tipped over stack cars in the back were still standing, containers and all. However, they were sitting halfway on the tracks, and in order to rebuild it they had no choice but to tip over everything. With the cars tipped over, the remaining damaged track was ripped out, now MOW was ready to receive their train. The power for the train originally had moved a cut of cars left behind, though not derailed, in order to make room for their train. Since track one needed to stay open so trains could pass, the MOW train would back up to the derailment site on two, and with the track cars in front, MOW had easy access to start placing new track. About 45 minutes after I took this photo, which was around the time I left, almost all the new track had been laid, though of course it was rough like in the photo. The crews would work until the track as good as new again, which I assume was early the next morning.
A closure of the Fresno Subdivision between Sacramento and Stockton sees the MNPFR backing its train up the wye at Haggin Junction. The train is backing up onto the Sacramento Subdivision, what was formerly the WP’s paralleling line to the Southern Pacific into Stockton, which is now the Fresno Subdivision. Once the train crossed the American River, the switch in the foreground would switch from the wye track to the mainline. Then the MNPFR would pull up to the first crossing in Midtown, less than a mile away, to swap crews before making its final stretch to Fresno.
On Christmas Day, 1994, I paid a visit to the former Rio Grande yard in Provo, Utah. A group of three factory fresh GE C44-9Ws dressed in Southern Pacific speed lettering awaited my arrival.
Fast forward 30 years, and the same locomotive passed through Echo, Utah on Union Pacific's Evanston Subdivision.
UP 9655 was rebuilt from the ground up by Wabtec as an C44ACM. If you compare the two photos, much of locomotive hardware was modified, and the original locomotive cab was removed and replaced.
The rebuild involves 75 UP, CNW, and SP Dash-9 units. They will undergo a DC-to-AC conversion, receive digital and technical improvements including FDL Advantage engine upgrade control technology, and Modular Control Architecture.
The last is best of all the game?
My fourth and final train movement on May 10th was Union Pacific's Roseville, California to North Platte, Nebraska "mega" manifest at Echo, Utah.
It really was a doozy. The MRVNP 09 had 257 cars, 33 loads, 224 empties, 11,999 tons, and was 15,987 feet long, 2x2x0 DPU. It was the longest freight train I've ever witnessed.
Leading the train was UP 9655, a recent graduate of Wabtec's C44ACM rebuild program. The locomotive was built new as Southern Pacific C44-9W No. 8191 by GE in December 1994.
As has become commonplace, the MTPAS was built by the Topeka Yard, and run east out of town to a spot near the Calhoun Bluffs.
With a fresh crew on board, it starts rolling again, and beneath my stalled car on the side of Kansas Highway 4, the Oakland Expressway.
The 7278 on the point is another one of the recent C44AC to C44ACM rebuilds, and it was SPOTLESS! This unit was rebuilt by GE in Ft. Worth, and the UP received it fresh from the rebuild on August 28, just seven days before this photo was taken.
Mid-day sun is certainly sub-optimal, but who's going to argue with the opportunity to bag this shot, when it's right down the street on a day off?
Here's one more view of the ZDVLB 15, with UP 9798 pulling through the twin four-degree curves just east of Baskin, Utah in Echo Canyon. Note former CNW 8694's original low mounted ditch lights and large factory snowplow. During the Wabtec C44ACM rebuild in Fort Worth, the entire cab was replaced.
Way back in the day, diesels were first starting to take over, and the "Long Hood Forward" operation was used by almost every railroad at the time. This operation is when the long hood of the locomotive is the front rather than the short hood, and was used as both a safety consideration and because it was similar to how most steam locomotives were built. However, due to the lack of visibility, most railroads switched to short hood running by the time the second generation diesels were being built. A few railroads did continue to regularly use long hood as the main way of running, with the most famous examples being the Southern Railway and the Norfolk & Western. In the modern day, you can still see trains running long hood forward, though rare, it does happen under certain circumstances.
When the California Northern Railroad had received a gypsum train from the UP bound for Artois, the train was facing a problem heading south. Though the train originally had three motors when it left for California, with one of the motors facing east, the east facing locomotive was having problems. Specifically, the batteries weren't holding charge, and therefore the unit could not stay powered on. Although this unit was supposed to lead the return trip, it had to be dropped in Roseville so it could get repaired, and a replacement motor would not be picked up. Therefore, the train would arrive on California Northern with only two west facing motors, running on a line with only one fully intact wye. With the wye also being a multiple hour trip from the train's destination, that left turning the units around out of the picture. When it came time for the train to leave Artois, it was decided that the crew would run the 28 miles to Cortena long hood forward and then pick up a new lead motor that was tied down there. The trip would take a bit longer than usual though, as both of the units did not have rear ditch lights, meaning the train would be restricted to 20 mph. After picking up the new locomotive, a 3GS21B (genset), the train would be able to run at both track speed and not long hood forward.
In the photo, the gypsum is on the return trip as it passes by the Cortena siding. The train had only just cleared the north switch not even a minute prior, and would start to slow down as the genset that would be picked up was sitting at the south end of the siding. The train would be stopped for about a half hour before continuing with the new leader. After getting to the UP at Davis, the genset would be taken off and the UP power would be thrown around the wye before tying down for a UP crew to pick it up later that night.
With no "two of a kind" locomotive type in the lead (SD70ACe-T4, SD70M, C44ACM, SD40N), UP's daily Roper - North Platte manifest hugs the east bench in the Weber River Valley leaving Henefer, Utah on June 10, 2023.
Sporting Union Pacific's latest livery, C44ACM number 9818 leads a train of empty coal hoppers west past dilapidated buildings in the West Bottoms neighborhood of Kansas City, MO on a rainy Sunday, February 4, 2024 morning.
Of the many new UP paint scheme variants, the 7271 is wearing what may be about the best one; Wings, and no flag. Obviously, I'd be pro-silver trucks, red frame stripe, and green nose anti-skid, but this is about as good as it gets these days.
This unit was released from GE in November 2022 (flic.kr/p/2nXVwn8), but still looks like it's fresh out of the shop here in early March of the next year.
Here, we see this C44ACM rebuild leading the GVASAL 28, a grain train from Avon, IA to Shamrock,KS. "Shamrock" was a location that I couldn't find immediately, but upon further investigation, I found that UP puts it between Pratt and Liberal, KS, and potentially to the east of Arkalon?
Regardless, this particular shot was taken at MacVicar Ave. in Topeka on UP's Topeka Sub.
UP C44ACM No. 6542 leads an elongated ILBG4-28 through the multiple curves found in San Timeteo Canyon trains encounter while traversing Beaumont Pass.
Union Pacific dispatched a 12-car passenger special from San Luis Obispo, California and Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 23-25, 2025.
UP 5882, a graduate of Wabtec's C44ACM program, pulls the train east along the Evanston Sub at Wahsatch, Utah on May 24, 2025.
Led by a freshly rebuilt GE AC4400CW that Union Pacific now labels an C44ACM, is a westbound UP freight climbing Wyoming’s Peru Hill just east of the top of the grade at Peru on June 23, 2023.
After the rather short trip from Klamath Falls to Dunsmuir, southbound trains crew change and then a new crew take trains to Roseville. This MHKRV was about ready to go and shortly after taking this photo would take off with its final crew before reaching its destination.
Off to the left, the station is fenced off as for awhile now Dunsmuir has been going through renovations. The facilities across from the station have been rebuilt, with buildings being torn out and the turntable filled. A new yard office was put in at the station parking lot and a new platform is being built for more room at the cramped station. At least the SP water tank still stands.
Of the many new UP paint scheme variants, the 7271 is wearing what may be about the best one; Wings, and no flag. Obviously, I'd be pro-silver trucks, red frame stripe, and green nose anti-skid, but this is about as good as it gets these days.
This unit was released from GE in November 2022 (flic.kr/p/2nXVwn8), but still looks like it's fresh out of the shop here in early March of the next year.
Here, we see this C44ACM rebuild leading the GVASAL 28, a grain train from Avon, IA to Shamrock,KS. "Shamrock" was a location that I couldn't find immediately, but upon further investigation, I found that UP puts it between Pratt and Liberal, KS, and potentially to the east of Arkalon?
Regardless, this particular shot was taken just west of Valencia, along the banks of the Kansas River on UP's Topeka Sub.
Powered by our people on no kings day. Just after daybreak, the MPDRVB 17 grinds upgrade through the S curve at Abernethy. 1111 had been on the lineup the day before, but I've learned to never trust what UP's computer shows as the leader. Late that night though, we started hearing 1111 talking to dispatch 68. After a 2am ODT in Eugene and a lengthy pickup to make, we heard them call a good roll-by for a northbound at McCredie sometime before dawn and started hiking to the spot. Widely mocked unit 1111 is looking worse for wear 6 years after getting this paint job, which I guess is befitting of an employee appreciation unit on today's uncle pete. Yes it's a disgrace but nonetheless I was happy to get a special paint leading.
Fallen flag leaders on UP and CPKC trains are found at Birmingham on the north side the NS diamond.
On the left, the final CNW-painted AC4400CW is the lead unit for UP train MDMNL-22 stopped on Main Track 1 of the CPKC Kansas City Sub as a single KCS ES44AC passes them on Main Track 2 with CPKC train 180, the MMX. The 180 will cross over to Main 1 at Minneville south of the diamond and pass a train stopped on Main 2 north of the Truman Drawbridge. Once they're clear, the MDMNL will follow them to Air Line JCT.
The MDMNL is typically fairly lengthy, and today's train is no exception. They have 214 cars out of Des Moines, IA totaling 13,357 ft including the power. The power is set up 2x1x1, and behind the CNW unit is a repainted former SP AC44. The DPU cut in the middle is another AC44 built for the UP, and the DPU on the rear is a former CNW Dash 9, now a C44ACM rebuild.
This train traveled south out of Des Moines on the UP Trenton Sub, which joined with the CPKC Kansas City Sub at Polo. This was part of the former Rock Island "Spine Line", which the CNW took over following the Rock's demise, and though this specific portion here was only held by the Northwestern via trackage rights, the former CNW leader is still right at home. It's too bad the MILW signal bridge no spans both mains north of the diamond.
The UP AC4400CW No. 6706 was delivered brand new in November 1994 as the CNW No. 8804, later relettered and renumbered in May of 2003 as the UP No. 6706. Though filthy and sporting scorch marks on the conductor's side of hood, it's the final AC44 left in CNW paint. Still hard to believe its lasted this long. 11/22/25.
The MRVHK 17 crosses Shady Creek trestle, surrounded by the colors of fall. On its way north out of Klamath Falls on this morning, the train broke knuckles on 2 separate occasions, additionally breaking 2 air hoses during the second instance. The engineer made it very clear to the dispatcher and corridor that trip optimizer was in use "to its fullest extent" both times the train broke. Problems like these on the Cascade sub seem to be the new norm. The previous day on this trip, we had hiked into this same spot for a southbound, and only a couple miles away from us, a trailing unit failed from crankcase overpressure, leading to hours of troubleshooting and work to set the unit out, tie down, and later get the train moving again with a different crew and another locomotive. If I actually got any shots to show for it, I would do a more detailed write-up of that story. Last time I was on the hill during snow back in march, the situation was similar to this with frequent locomotive failures and other problems. In more demanding and remote territory like this, UP's lack of maintenance and other attempts to save money like TO and getting rid of the helpers really cut the operation deep, to the bone, it's pretty disappointing to see.