DD40 6944 Finished at Altoona, PA... (Check the Number Boards :) )

[learmoia]

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=531772&nseq=0

Great Job NS Crew!!  And check out the Number Boards.... Nice touch!!     ~Ian

[C855B]

Fabulous to see this out of the shop looking like this. Most of you have no idea how bedraggled it was getting. It was pretty sad. I had a serious chat with the museum curator about 10 years ago about "adopting" the 6944 renovation as a project, and she dissuaded me - lead paint issues were off the chart. "Just everywhere!" she said, "You don't want to get involved in that unless you plan on taking courses in lead mitigation."

Two mistakes, however, that jumped out at me right away in that photo. First, the number board font is not right (sorry, Ian!). Easy enough to check old pictures, but nooooooooo... what they used is too "extended" and too thin. Here's one of the 6944 in service: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1004698.

The second - which I sort of don't mind, but it's still wrong - is the medallion. "UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD" was never used on the second order of Centennials, 6925-6946. UP had just started the new corporate image campaign in late 1969, which dropped "RAILROAD" from the medallion. Only the first batch received the version shown on the restoration.

Still cool. I'll definitely have to go pay my respects when it comes back into town. Who knows, it may even pass through our little stretch of NS and I'll catch it on the railcam.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

[up1950s]

I saw that number board font error too , ( before I read your post ) . What I was glad to see is the red sill stripe . I hate the looks of the FRA mandated yellow or white rule . Is this powered or is it a shell of its former self ? I have to look it photos , I don't remember if the wiper arms were yellow .

[C855B]

No, good catch. Wipers were utilitarian black.

It's unpowered, the prime movers (or possibly just the heads) taken for SD40-2 rebuilds. IIRC the traction motors were removed, too.

[up1950s]

Here it is , with grey or silver , but not yellow . I agree with the black because most of the times the wiper arm barely show up on the darker windows .

[C855B]

Ah, interesting. I looked closely at the "classic" color publicity shot with the 6900 on the string of "Automated Rail Way" boxcars and the wipers had a silver finish from the factory. Wipers would obviously be on the frequent shop maintenance schedule, so my guess is when they went in for service they got whatever was in the parts bin that day. But yellow? Nah.

Love the picture, BTW. That's the UP I know and love. Three DDs, no waiting.

[learmoia]

Two mistakes, however, that jumped out at me right away in that photo. First, the number board font is not right (sorry, Ian!). Easy enough to check old pictures, but nooooooooo... what they used is too "extended" and too thin. Here's one of the 6944 in service: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1004698.

I realize they are wrong..  they are NS number boards..  Which I think is 'cute' under the circumstances.. 
As far as the "Railroad" Logo, for every UP model that has the wrong logo... Ed's Law now applies..

~Ian

[C855B]

Sheep or no sheep (...Ed's been wondering why no comment yet... here you go, Ed... ), I dunno about Ed's Law on this. I've always considered museum restorations - even ones I've been a part of - modeling in 1:1 scale. Restorers frequently make the same kind of mistakes modelers do in recapturing the original. Some are intentional, like painting something for a railroad that never owned it or anything like it, or research/execution errors such as our nitpicks here.

Or errors of convenience, like those number boards.   If I have any sway... I may not... I may just see about getting those replaced. I had hooked-up the museum with a UPHS researcher known for his expertise on PL&N, but apparently they didn't follow through. Hell, the last time I talked with this guy it was exactly the topic of incorrect fonts used for number boards in restorations, and we were arguing over "which Helvetica!" on a Rio Grande SD45. Being a former typographer it's kinda sorta a sore subject with me. Anyway, I somewhat got the impression in talking to the project manager at the museum that they were more or less handing over the entire effort to NS and were not participating in the research. So, clearly, it's gorgeous... but to those of us who were there when it was in revenue service... [sigh]

It's missing the KarTrak ACI panels, too, which it had its entire operating life, as well... 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Sheep or no sheep (...Ed's been wondering why no comment yet... here you go, Ed... )

I was, actually!

[eric220]

    

[ai5629]

The engine went west in NS11A on 6/4/15.  Here are a couple photos of it on Horseshoe Curve.  I had no knowledge of this movement.  I just got lucky.  Thanks.

Jeff

[C855B]

As of today @ 5 p.m., it's almost home, if you want to call "home" the museum in a city where it never ran under its own power.

Location is Cerro Gordo, IL, which is about 10 miles east of Decatur:

[C855B]

Coincidentally, I was at the annual UPHS convention this past weekend, and the aforementioned PL&N expert and I were discussing the lettering errors in the restoration. He also noted that the cab numbers are too large (compare to Richie's photo above!).

There's a reason for the inaccuracies - NS (or probably the museum) followed the original lettering diagram "out the window", and "knew" they were "absolutely" right. However... the single lettering plan sheet had "see drawing #X" for details like the numbers and medallion. The referenced sub-drawings were subject to revisions that were not applied to the master drawing for economy's sake. So to reproduce what was done in the railroad's (and EMD's) paint shop you needed to have those, too. Even UP's paint people told NS that what they were asking for wasn't right, but they (NS) threw up their hands and said "that's what the customer is insisting on." Oops.

[MRLX1020]

Mike:

You and Robyn might be the only UPHS conventioneers to see 2 Centennials in the same long weekend outing - one stuffed and one rolling!

I feel/maintain that the slight inaccuracies are due to NS taking care of what UP should have cleaned up years ago - and balked at several opportunities to do so.
If they could support the one down in Mexico City at that museum, why not support one on your own system, and at a facility that hosts company picnics too!?!

The 6944 and 4006 will look very nice together here in St. Louis for many years, allowing yet another generation of young train enthusiasts to see how UP actually built America in the mid 20th century.

MRLX1020