Alcos On The Union Pacific

[C855B]

... Confirms the color of the horizontal walkway surface on the bump-ups near the end.

Oh, yeah. Credit and much appreciation goes to @GaryHinshaw for spotting this one on Rail Pictures. I've collected about two dozen shots from various sources and this is the only one from a high enough angle to verify that horizontal surfaces were gray. Even the notch underneath that little bit of grille walkway was gray, and the grille is gray on top yet yellow on the sides and underneath. It was a moment.

This is the confirmation that got me into so much trouble with v1.0 of my model. You know what a nightmare it is to try to mask all that stuff, so I tried to brush-paint the gray with Tru-Color over Tru-Color. It turned into a gummy, yukky, unfixable mess. Using Scalecoat on v2.0.

Mike:  I don't know about the trailing unit, but the SP&S had good luck with their C636s.  Unless the C630s were much different, they should have at least been reliable.

Maybe so, but it was Alco's demise in 1969 that fed a lot of Class I decision to move on. At that point factory support was much more difficult, and parts were frequently not a single phone call away. UP was pretty quick to clear their roster of Alcos given they didn't really have enough of any model to justify an on-site parts inventory.

[Mark5]

Mike:  I don't know about the trailing unit, but the SP&S had good luck with their C636s.  Unless the C630s were much different, they should have at least been reliable.

Yes, N&W ran their 10 until 1985. On the other hand, they did make a deal with C&NW to sell their 30 C628s in 1973 or so.

[nkalanaga]

Ryan:  That makes sense.  The BN, and Santa Fe, seem to have had better luck with EMD's 45 series than many roads as well.  In the case of the Alcos, as you noted, the shop crews were very familiar with them.  They were all based out of Vancouver, WA, and the SP&S shops had been largely Alco since they dieselized, partly because the GN and NP didn't like them.  They'd order a few Alcos, run them for a while, then send them to SP&S.

That's also why the BN's Fs ran out their days in the Northwest.  The Puget sound area shops were familiar with them, so they all ended up there, and the rest of the railroad didn't have to fuss with them.  That made the 1970s very interesting in Pasco.  Big Alcos and F units everywhere!  And the BN green actually looked good on them.  With the number of 40 ft boxcars still in grain service, due to light rail on branch lines, it sometimes looked like the 1950s.

[Spikre]

 
   it took EMD awhile to deliver all the 6900s.
   when was the last 6900 delivered compared to the last U50C ?
   C630s:
      most had the Disentagrating Piston problem,as did Reading's 2 C430s.
    Alco came up with a Steel Cap that fixed that problem,and was in the last Reading
    and C&O C630s,and it seems all C636s,the NYC,GBW,and Demo C430s.
    possibly the 1968 C628s,and C420s also ?
    DM&IR was used to get a lower import tax on sending the C630s to Cartier.
    earlier the ex-DM&IR/BL&E Alligators went to Cartier also.
    these were Inter Family Road deals and should have had a lower tax rate also.
      Spikre
         
   

[C855B]

...it took EMD awhile to deliver all the 6900s. [W]hen was the last 6900 delivered compared to the last U50C?...

If you want to split hairs here - 6946 was delivered 9/1971, 5039 delivered 11/1971.

As to better defining "last" in terms of their double-diesel program, the U50Cs appeared in the catalog in 2/69, so were ordered well after the Centennials, and GE only started delivering 5000s after UP was already running about 20 DDA40Xs. That would make a certain amount of sense, since UP specified that the first 20 GEs were to recycle GTEL8500 trucks, and UP was doing almost a 1:1 replacement where one 6900 delivered = one turbine off the roster. (It wasn't really that 'neat and tidy', but it seemed that way.)

Anyway, for timeline details: http://utahrails.net/up-diesel-roster/classic-index.php

[Spikre]

 
     Mike,
        think that the date that You show for 5039 is CORRECT !!.
        The last U50C was delivered between 11/71 .
         notes in my DSG-2 are incorrect for the U50Cs.
          The last double diesel delivered to UP was a
         U50C delivered 11/71.
        As soon as I can get to my X2200 South roster I'll post
        the dates shown by X2200.
         Mike,
       Your Date for 5039 is correct,sorry for doubting it.
        Spikre
          

[C855B]

{I} think that the date that You show for 5039 is wrong. The last U50C was delivered between 12/70 and 2/71. ... As soon as I can get to my X2200 South roster I'll post the dates shown by X2200.

Now I'm curious what the contemporary press had to say, so I'm standing by for what you can find on it. Don (Strack) is reliable for this kind of information since he keeps meticulous records, and/or even has or had access to UP's roster bookkeeping. But he is also receptive to authoritative updates when they're available, so he would be interested, too.

[Spikre]

 
    Mike,
       cant find a U.P. roster here yet,but am sure there was one once.
     also cant find the Mainline Modeler U50C article,but am still looking
     for it.
       U50C trivia:
      the pic of the U50C in DSG-2 shows the U50C in Glenrock NJ on the EL
      with an EL U33C.dont recall the name of that road,but have gone thru that
      crossing many,many times.
        the U50C wasn't Demonstrating,but was being Road Tested by GE Engineers,
     and being prepared for delivery to U.P.
      EL also delivered many of the U30Cs ordered by U.P.
      they would be fired up at Marion Ohio to qualify as "Used" locos to pay less
      Tax on them.
        Spikre