UNION PACIFIC EARLY POWER RISE

this is a section of a 1 hour 38 minute long DVD production on the Union Pacific Railroad their high standards left a lasting impression on the public in part due to eh Herman's influence let's drop back to the World War II era when steam was King and review the many advancements in their Motive Power the SP went off on its own but with improved direction from Herman's involvement SP and up would cooperate for many years and co-own the Pacific Food Express refrigerator car company the up continued to prosper as many other roads went in and out of receiver ships and bankruptcies the opening of the Panama Canal in Herman's day was direct competition to transcontinental Freight business but in time of War rails were a secure Corridor for the war effort all without the risks that ships using the Panama Canal would have from submarine attacks number 2264 is a 282 mic from the common standards era on a coone pass westbound followed by 5518 a 1924 built Baldwin 2102 World War II showcased how railroads could tie a large country together Coast to Coast as one efficient war production machine the US railroads operated in a relative calm to transport troops and War material from coast to coast the importance of railroads and War time is illustrated by these Allied attacks on German rails to disrupt their War capacity this is something that us railroads didn't have to contend with and they went about their business without concern except for the risk of sabotage the war took depression level business and tripled it and even after the war the volume per Freight remained high this 282 was the Herman era common standard design that was still running in 1955 the back of the tender is lettered owr and in Oregon Washington Railway and navigation which was a 1500 mile portion of the up system this 1923 built Alco was originally built for the LA and Salt Lake line with a 482 wheel Arrangement it retains its history as an LA and Salt Lake locomotive with a small reporting Mark at the bottom right of the cab this late in its career the up had an appetite for more power during the war and this ex norfol and Western Malle was one of many used on the but line and in helper service over Sherman Hill these 4 664s were less suitable for fast Mainline service compared to the Challenger class and big boy [Music] models this is a World War I vintage Baldwin 282 with a local it carried 9,000 gallons of water the frequent stops for water to keep locomotives under steam was one reason for the eventual dieselization up began replacing Road power with diesels by 1947 with the EMD F3 model they skipped over the earlier ft version since they were well equipped with modern steam power during the war the f3s were much improved over the FTS steam would still have work especially in helper service until 1957 when steam classes were stored away one by one for the call that would never come again up worked with GE to create the turbin powered locomotive touted as an alternative to the diesel the baby turbines produced 4500 horsepower they had a heavy appetite but could run on cheaper bunker sea fuel oil these had a total of eight traction Motors the up liked the idea of heavy fast power to run its trains in the busy Omaha to Ogden Corridor the fact that they consumed great amounts of fuel sitting in a sighting was no concern for this double tracked line trains simply should not sit idle in the first place the last group of 30 were the 8500 horsepower big blow models built in 1958 to 61 these were essentially jet engines that produced electric power for the traction Motors they had a deafening Roar that made them unpopular in heavily populated areas and the availability time wasn't as high as their contemporary diesels they were all off the roster by 1969 the grand experiment was over by then EMD had been offering turbocharger equipped diesels that produced more power such as these 1963 built Jeep 30s GE had already shifted its emphasis to diesel production and a horsepower race was on when these 1947 built f3s were new EMD was offering 1,500 horsepower with good product reliability to maintain reliability they would resist using turbochargers with the Roots blower equipped diesel for another 12 years when the Jeep 20 was offered the F3 had the company of 56 of the newer F7 and fp7 models until 1963 when the f3s were retired or rebuilt as F7 or F9 versions Alco was a longtime supplier of steam power and during the war they were restricted from offering diesel Road power this is a mix of Alco PA FB and PB units that were turbocharged diesels they were built in the 1948 period and the P models for passenger service offered 2,000 horsepower up only bought 14 PA and PB units in many regards they were great locomotives but they suffered from early crankshaft and exhaust manifold failures during the war the war production board did allow Alco to offer switch engines the rest of their manufacturing capacity was assigned to building steam locomotives while the decision serve the country's needs well it gave EMD a heavy Edge over Alco that would haunt them to the end the 1,000 horsepower turbocharged 6-cylinder diesel was a successful model for Alco and they sold 54 to up alone these switchers with a characteristic Alco four cycle sound were reliable and liked by Engineers they spent their years picking around in small yards and industries doing all the unglamorous work of feeding the system the up gave Alco another order for the similar S4 model in 1955 and they bought 45 more switchers all the s model units were eventually retired in the early '70s up had GE and EMD diesel to maintain and a third brand that was by then out of business was deemed unneeded but the s model series sold almost 2300 total in North America this Santa Fe S4 had a similar story and many of these alos run today on short lines EMD first sold up switchers in 1939 to 1942 this NW2 delivered 1,000 horsepower from 12 cylinders and was not turbocharged up own 96 of these by [Music] 1948 up operated eight sets of 1951 built cow and calf tr5 for transferring cuts of cars between yards the two units gave 1,200 horsepower total this concept was replaced with the coming of the GP model series from EMD the up owned 30 Jeep 7s built in 1953 they quickly shifted railroad buying habits to the GP or general purpose concept this gave better operating utility and easier maintenance compared to the F7 locomotives that were otherwise identical in performance these two 1500 horsepower Jeeps ease past a water column for steam engines that would lose its purpose in a few more years from 1954 to 1957 up bought 324 GP 9 that brought 1750 horsepower and minor improvements over the original concept they were useful switching yards and running on the mainline with the most important freight trains this dual mode was something Unthinkable for f units borrowing an idea from the F units they were offered in a and b or cabless versions five were equipped with steam generators for Reserve passenger Duty these Jeeps were the first volume produced Road s for EMD and the last to satisfy a market without resorting to [Music] turbocharging trains were growing in tonnage facing in stiff competition from trucks and rail shippers were requiring faster service the GE experiments with turbine power and turbocharged offerings from Alco gave a strong message to EMD huge locomotive consist appealed the rail fans but not the cost accountants in heavy grade locations the up didn't want to resort to helper locomotives as readily as the Santa Fe avoiding extra facilities and Crews for helpers plus the increased load of dispatching light power sets was a matter of business [Music] Style by the late 60s gp9s would be assigned to flatter assignments and [Music] locals [Music] the up not only encouraged EMD to develop more powerful models they also worked on their own to prove the value of turbocharging without sacrificing reliability this Jeep 9 is one of 75 that were turboed by Up's shops to produce 2,000 horsepower the ordinary jeep was about to share its assignments with a better breed EMD started the development of the sd24 and the jeep2 models that would emerge by 1959 to compete in the market demanding more output per unit the Jeep 20 was a 2,000 horsepower model with the new standard lowf front hood and it results Ed in 30 Sals to the up by 1963 the 2250 horsepower and more advanced Jeep 30 with its peculiar roof and cab styling was brought in with 76 units almost evenly divided between A and B versions they weren't perfect but they started the long climb toward EMD domination of the 4 axle Road switcher Market [Music] [Music] wa [Music] the EMD Jeep 20 was rated at 2,000 horsepower and the Jeep 30 was somewhat misleading at 2250 the original designation was to be the Jeep 22 but with ge's release of the 2500 horsepower u25b the number 22 somehow seemed to be a marketing problem EMD claimed that 30 was the proper number to indicate the 30 new improvements in the design the third unit back is a Jeep 35 that was the last offering from EMD in 1963 using the 567 series diesel the yellow sper rail car is visiting up tracks in the LA area to provide its rail testing services this special type of car uses magnetic induction to find defects in the rails before they become a safety problem the service began in 1928 from original work and patents from Dr sper also known for his famous work with gyroscopes and navigational equipment let's return to daget California where the up swings off Santa fe's double tracks to its own line off to Las Vegas Nevada the Jeep 30 had an elaborate positive pressure air system to keep dust and dirt out of the engine room which explains its lack of the expected numerous louvers on the side panels later a westbound is headed by an sd24 which did produced 2400 horsepower from its 16 cylinder 567 D diesel up wanted six axle locomotives that could pull well upgrades and also run at fast Freight speeds it was introduced in 1959 and up bought 34 with a larger order for the 45b units the Rival Santa Fe bought 80 SD 24s but only up bought the B units the sd24 is easy to spot in either A or B versions by the four roof mounted air tanks to get a 3,000g tank between the pair of three axle trucks the air tanks wound up on the roof it was either that or lengthen the [Music] [Music] frame [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] the second unit here is a Jeep 35 with emd's 2500 horsepower version of the 567 diesel this would be the most expected from a 567 without adding cylinders [Music] the only step up from this power rating was the double Diesel with two Jeep 35s built into one long [Music] frame the 5,000 horsepower single chassis dual engine was called the dd35 at first it was only offered as a B unit and SP and up were the only customers for this solution for more power up owned the only cab units totaling 15 the DD 35s were a stop Gap major for bigger things to come from EMD despite the low population of the dd35 they seem to be everywhere on Up's Western Front from 1965 until they retired around 1981 another potential supplier was Fairbanks Morris with its unusual but powerful oppos piston diesel these 2400 horsepower demonstration train Masters were tested on the up in 1953 it didn't result in sales to the up but this pair was bought by the Southern Pacific along with 14 others Union Pacific's appetite for heavy turbine power was a strong factor in GE eventually breaking into diesel production they had a long and good reputation for building pure electric locomotives such as this Milwaukee box cab they were very durable if a railroad was willing to build and maintain the overhead wiring to feed the them GE split up its engineering partnership with Alco and continued on as a mere supplier of electrical parts for Alco diesels the GE traction Motors were one of alco's advantages they could take a lot of abuse without problems these Alco rs27 demonstration diesels were bought by up in 1961 but they would be retired in only 10 years the last alos bought by up were the century models in 1966 they didn't make a good impression on the up and Alco would be out of business in short order GE introduced their own diesel line and introduced the ubot to the railroad World using the Cooper besser diesel Up's 10 u28 C's looked good on paper but they suffered the same problems that the u25b had earlier a company the size of General Electric had the Deep resources to work out problems and support their early units with warranty and trade in plans the ubot nickname was called point after the U in the model designation u meaning Universal the U series was just a first step for GE and they would continue on with newer lines into the 80s and '90s eventually GE would begin to Eclipse EMD as a builder but these u28 were off the mainline by the early '70s and off the roster by 1980 [Music] here's a look at ge's bare rooftop on the u28c compared to the various trailing emds here at barow [Music] in 1963 GE built 23 special u50 BS using four B trucks and a pair of 2500 horsepower diesels to form the 5,000 horsepower monster that up hoped would allow a three-unit set to handle any train on the system the idea was based on studies that each diesel added to a train had a fixed operating cost increment that was independent of its horsepower so adding fewer units with higher power ratings could offer a savings the span bolsters and trucks on these machines came from retired gep turbines the second generation u50c had a pair of three axle trucks taken from the retired big blow turbines they had six versus eight traction Motors and they were better suited for using their power generating speed instead of Tractive [Music] effort the u50c Diesels were turned around to put the radiators in the center giving them a different look let's watch a pair of u50c at speed near North [Music] Plat EMD filled orders for double diesels and the dda40x was its finest example the 6900 was used to pull the 1969 Golden Spike Centennial special passenger train from Kansas City to Salt Lake City it used two 3300 horsepower 645 series diesels to give 6600 horsepower total the project was accelerated to bring the unit to the ceremonies and it was on display as the world's most powerful land vehicle in a few months men would walk on the moon but for the time being the dd40 was the giant step for up on to Los Angeles for more public viewing this was a Union Pacific model and it was not listed in the EMD cataloges many of its electrical improvements would come in future EMD single engine diesels the dash two line of EMD locomotives that were so successful in the 70s can trace their advantages to this [Music] locomotive [Music] [Music] a hot eastbound tofc is nearing the Crest at Summit on coone pan pass using only two locomotives to conquer the 2.2% [Music] [Music] grade [Music] [Music] for [Music] EMD learned a lot by building the 47 DDA 40x machines filling a need for power until the next generation of single engine diesels could come close to their performance the dd35 was an earlier EMD design to compete with the u50 model from GE it was the internal workings of two 2500 horsepower Jeep 35s on one long chassi to furnish 5,000 horsepower this was the last and greatest harra for the 567 series diesel from EMD these were built as cabless boosters in 1964 and later offered with cabs in 1965 up owned 42 total and ran them into the early 80s the SP was the only other customer for them and they only own three of the cblas version this ABB Trio is working its way down the 3% grade on the south track on kahone pass off in the distance another up train is climbing the easier 2.2% grade on the North track with a more conventional SD40 on the point and a second DD 35b after all of Up's experimentation with heavy power the 3,000 horsepower SD 40-2 would eventually emerge as the standard for Up's Road power in 1972 up started buying 682 of them [Music] [Music] down at the bottom of the coone grade at D'Or a passing eastbound Santa Fe train is about to begin its grind up the mountain as a pair of DD 40s work their way down toward San Bernardino back up at Summit the two tracks split up to take different alignments this is where the south track converges back with the north track down at kahone compared to the 2.2% north track the south track grade is 3% so it's used mostly for westbound traffic hitting down grade before 1913 the south track was the original single line for all traffic the second track adds several miles of extra length and a pair of short tunnels but it cuts the grade down to a more reasonable 2.2% the 3% grade shows its presence with lots of brake Smoke Off to the Train's right is Sullivan's curve in the north track visible to the left is a remnant of the old route 66 that was broken up by interstate 15 seen with the heavy traffic above smoking it up in Barstow is the same power combination we saw at 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Channel: Charles Smiley Presents Videos

Views: 8,677

Keywords: GP9s, E and F-units, Turbines, DD35, DD40s, U50s, SD24 and SD45s, union pacific, union pacific railroad, railroad movies, railroad dvds, centennial engines, up turbine engines, union pacific cajon pass, union pacific railroad sherman hill, union pacific railroad coal trains

Id: yE9OQoM_uiQ

Length: 30min 24sec (1824 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 18 2024