Thought I would fill you all in on some information I received this weekend: Distributed Power, or DPU operations (unmanned run-through helper units) have recently been extended on Roseville/West Colton Manifest trains. DPU was originally run between Bakersfield and West Colton, but will now run all the way between Roseville and West Colton. As a side note, the power on DPU trains is going through a change. The original DPU trains on this corridor were handled by a group of C40-8W's equipped for this service. Currently, UP is moving in 8500 class SD90MAC's for this service to replace the C40-8W's. The displaced Dash-8's are to be moved to other DPU operations in the Pacific Northwest corridor. The plan for the RV/WC DPU trains is to have 2 SD90's on the point and one SD90 trailing. Of course this is not a set rule, as they can always add other available units to the power set. ------------------ Kevin Stevens www.trainweb.org/KernJunction
Alot of the unit coal that comes through Fremont uses DPU. They are usally C44ACs. Most DPU units are dropped off at North Platte after the train has come out of Powder River Basing in Wyoming but some stay with their train all the way to their destination.
