Union Pacific Diesel Story, 1934-1982 Index Page

Serves All The West

A History of Union Pacific Dieselization, 1934 to 1982

By Don Strack

This page was last updated on July 27, 2002

The text and information in these articles are edited and updated versions of the text used in Diesels of the Union Pacific, 1934-1982, The Classic Era, Volume 1, by Don Strack (Withers Publishing Co., 1999) (The book, which includes hundreds of photos, is still available from the publisher. Click here for more information, and here for a direct link to the book at Withers Publishing.)

Introduction
Early Motor Cars — UP's McKeen, EMC, and Brill motor cars (1907-1923)
Pullman M-10000 — The first Streamliner (1934)
Pullman M-10001 — The second Streamliner, City of Portland (1934)
Pullman M-10002 — The third Streamliner, City of Los Angeles (1936)
Pullman M-10003 to M-10006 — The fourth, fifth and sixth Streamliners (1936)
EMC E2s — The first passenger Streamliner units from Electro-Motive (1937)
GE Steam Turbines — GE's experimental units test on UP for 60 days (1939)
EMC E3s — Electro-Motive's first standard passenger units (1939)
1941 Renumbering — The renumbering of the passenger fleet to accommodate additional non-Streamliner units (1941)
EMC E6s — The Streamliner fleet is updated with Electro-Motive's latest offering (1941)
Joint-Owned Units — A summary of the jointly-owned Streamliner units (UP-SP-C&NW) identified with a J road number (1947-1948)
EMD E7s — Additional standard passenger units for the Streamliners and other UP passenger trains (1946-1947)
Early Diesel Yard Switchers — A brief narrative history of UP's early use of diesel yard switchers.
- EMC NW2 — UP's first diesel switch units (1940)
- Alco, Baldwin, and Fairbanks-Morse — Competitors to Electro-Motive's units on UP (1943-1945)
- GE 44 ton — GE's little one-man unit (1947)

First Freight Diesels — UP's first freight units, the F-M Erie built units, the canceled Baldwin Centipedes, and why no EMD FTs on UP (1945-1947)
Non-Streamliner Diesel Passenger Units — UP's Alco PA/PB units, and passenger F3s from EMD (1947)
Full Dieselization — The first EMD F3s arrive, along with the Alco FA/FB freight units (1947-1948)
First Road Switchers — Alco RSC-2 and RS-2
EMD F3s and F7s — Along with the Alco FA/FB, the EMD F3 and F7 units are what UP used to dieselize its freight operations (1947-1952)
Alco FA and FB Road Freight Units — Assigned to the old LA&SL, the Alcos freight units brought an end to steam on this part of the railroad (1947-1948)
Fairbanks-Morse Units — A summary of the Fairbanks-Morse yard switcher and freight units on UP (1945-1950)
4500 Gas Turbines — UP tries the new gas turbine electric locomotives from Alco/GE; these are the "Little Turbines" (1950-1953)
One-for-One Trade-in Units — UP modernized its passenger fleet by trading in its early E2, E3 and E6 units on new E8 and E9 units (1953-1962)
EMD E8s and E9s — A summary of UP's famous fleet of EMD E8 and E9 passenger locomotives (1950-1963)
EMD SD7s — EMD's heavy duty road switcher came to UP for iron ore service (1953)
EMD GP7s and GP9s — These utilitarian road switchers came to UP to completely end the use of steam (1953-1957)
Turbocharged GP9s — UP wanted more horsepower from its GP9 fleet (1955-1962)
EMD F9s — Much of UP's large fleet of EMD F3s were rebuilt and modernized by EMD as F9s (1959)
8500 Gas Turbines — The most powerful units on UP, these 8,500 hp units, nicknamed "Big Blow", dominated the western mainline for almost six years (1959-1961)
Coal Turbine — Another test by UP for more horsepower (1959-1962)
SD24s — EMD's newest locomotive came to UP in the form of both cab units and booster units (1959)
GP20 — EMD's newest four-axle locomotive was the prototype for many later turbocharged GP9s (1960)
Alco RS-27 — UP bought four former demonstrators (1961)
GE U25Bs — UP was one of the first roads to buy GE's pioneering freight unit, after first buying the four prototype GE cab units in 1959 (1961-1962)
GP30 and GP30B — Always looking to modernize, UP was one of the first roads to buy the latest locomotive unit from EMD, including cabless booster units and booster units equipped for standby passenger service (1962-1963)
Double Diesels — UP pressured the builders into supplying the ideal 15,000 hp locomotive: the DD35 from EMD; the U50 from GE, and the Century 855 from ALCO (1963-1965)
GP35 — Additional units of EMD's standard road freight locomotive (1964)
SDP35 — UP needed more passenger units for special and secondary service (1965)
SD40s — The first examples of the unit that became a standard on UP (1966)
SD40 Demonstrators — UP bought the eight demonstrators from EMD (1966)
Canceled SD40s — A order for more SD40s was canceled (1967)
U28Cs and C-630s — A minimal test of GE's and ALCO's competition to EMD's SD40 (1966)
SD45s — High horsepower units from EMD for high speed service, later used in coal and iron ore service (1968)
SD24m — Looking to modernize its SD24 fleet, UP never built another one like it (1968)
DDA40X — These "Centennial" units dominated the western mainlines until their storage in 1980 (1969-1971)
U50C — UP wanted high horsepower units from another builder, but these units were only in service for less than six years (1970-1971)
SD40-2 — The new standard motive power for UP, with an eventual fleet of over 680 units (1972-1980)
Canceled SD40-2B — A canceled order for 23 booster units that were to be operated between pairs of DDA40X units (1975)
High Speed SD40-2H — A fleet of renumbered and new units assigned solely to high speed, cross-country service (1976-1980)
U30C — The standard fleet unit from GE; UP had 150 units (1972-1976)
C30-7 — Additional standard fleet units from GE; UP had 140 units (1977-1979)
Stored Units — A severe economic downturn forced UP to store a third of its locomotive fleet (1980-1984)
Yard Slugs — Following a trend set by other roads, UP had a fleet of eight yard slugs for more tractive effort in yard service (1973-1978)
E-100 — UP's sole electric unit came to its LA&SL subsidiary and was used until replaced by a diesel switcher (1931-1942)

Additional Reading