Oy! I'm a day late, but I make up for it by finally taking some new pictures. This week Roseville Yard had 2 sets of local power. A pair of GP40-2s and a GP40-2/GP38-2 combo. I found the GP40-2s fascinating. They show the varied heritage of UP locos. All 3 were built in 72-76 phase 1 can you spot the differences? First up:
Title this one "I never existed". Nicely painted, but this one came post-BN merger as #12041. Essex, Montana:
1: I learned that one of the 2 sets of power is most likely for the work train doing tie replacement up the valley line. 2: One of the two sets disappeared today and came back with this attached. Modoc Railroad Academy is located in Pleasant Grove Ca on the Former Western Pacific. AARX is not the reporting marks that this unit originally travelled under. It was originally RPRX. It is a very very very rare GG20B Green Goat. It is not a Genset, but rather a Battery Hybrid.
Buddy- I am curious- How do you know the train symbol? Do you get it from radio chatter? Is their schedule so predictable you can tell that way? Is it the consist of the train?
There must be as Modoc is an official training site. It's also possible the gg20b is going to co for testing.
I usually get the field reports from those who see them pass by or hear them via track warrants. Also you can tell by what they haul as well(intermodal, steel coil, lumber, grain, ethanol). Another way is what time they run. The symbols for both mainline trains are the BICB(Blue Island-Council Bluffs, westbound) and CBBI(eastbound counterpart). There are three unit trains that run on the mainline too. SIBI--Ethanol train from Silvis, IL to Blue Island, IL and BISI(counterpart train) PEDM--Empty NS Grain Train from Peoria, IL to Des Moines, IA and counterpart DMPE(grain fills) PECR--Filled Coal Train from Peoria to Cedar Rapids, IA and the counterpart empties, CRPE. The coal train comes from NS as well. Also there is a turn that runs from Cedar Rapids to South Amana(CRSA and its counterpart, SACR), which in turn later in the day runs to Silvis as SASI/SISA. At least 10 trains on average run the Iowa Interstate in all. Not to mention the switcher jobs as well......ATSW(Atlantic switcher), NTSW(Newton Switcher), SASW(South Amana Switcher, formerly the Iowa City Switcher-ICSW), BUSW(Bureau Switcher) and I know I am missing a couple more. Plus from time to time, they will run some extra mainline freights in between as needed.
At the Galveston Railroad Museum today. They have cleaned it up since Hurricane Ike so I had to go see the old pieces that got a bath in sea water before they crumble away to rust. The F units are new to the collection. They have a bad habit of painting cars and rolling stock in schemes that they never wore in their past. Case in point is the Santa Fe warbonnet on some ex SP F-7s.
