Union Pacific Locomotive Fleet Changes
January and February 1997
(as of 16 March 1997)
During January and February, Union Pacific received 15 new SD9043ACs: 8076 in January and another 14 units in February. UP 8075-8084, 8086, 8088, 8090 and 8092 are now on the property. Remember, because they are being delivered with 4,300 horsepower, UP calls these units SD9043ACs, while EMD calls them SD90MACs. They will be converted to 6,000 horsepower at a later date.
Nine more GP38-3s, leased from Helm, have arrived: UP 2409 and 2410 in January; and UP 2500-2506 in February. These units have been rebuilt from retired CSXT GP38-2s (for the 2400s) and retired CSXT GP40s (for the 2500s). These units join the nine units in the 2400 series which arrived in November and December 1996.
The continuing delivery of the leased GP38-3s from Helm means that the 2400- and 2500-series GE C30-7s must be renumbered. UP has selected the 400- and 500-series as their new group. During January and February 1997, a total of 22 C30-7 received their new numbers (see the renumber listing for specific numbers), bringing the current total to 38 units renumbered, with 92 units still to be renumbered.
The fleet of short-term leased units continues to grow. In January, 13 units of EMD's GP40 lease fleet were received: EMD 182, 183, 185, 187, 190, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 204, and 205. These units had all previously been leased to SP. In February, four units were received from Helm: ex-BN 7085, ex-BN 7094, ex-BN 7096, and HLCX 6297. The total numbers of short-term leased units now stands at eight switchers and 66 road units.
The numbers of Life Extension SD40-2Rs grew by another four units, bringing the total completed to 228 units. UP 3413, 3432, and 3490 were completed during January, and UP 3345 was completed during February.
There were no retirements during January, but February saw 24 "switch" units retired, all on February 21st. These include three of UP's unique SW10s: 1219, 1254, and 1259, leaving the SW10 fleet at 55 operating units, down from the original fleet of 75 units. The other units retired included 10 ex-C&NW GP7s (leaving 33 of the 90 units that came to the UP roster with the UP/C&NW merger in 1995); one GP9 (C&NW 4554, leaving five of 16 units); nine SD18s (leaving five of 26 units); and finally, the last of 13 C&NW SD45s, number 6503.
For the "first, last, and only" crowd, the first ex-SP road unit was renumbered to its new UP number on February 12, 1997, when ex-SP GE C44-9 8100 became UP 9564. On February 21, ex-SP GP60 9777 followed suit as it became UP 5876. Remember, the first ex-SP unit to be renumbered to UP was ex-SP SW1500 2662 officially became UP 1183 on December 12, 1996. See the renumber list for additional ex-SP SW1500s that were renumbered during January and February 1997.
C&NW renumbering continued with five units completed in January and nine completed in February. The full list of renumberings follows (in order of new UP numbers):
| New Number |
Old Number |
Model | Date | Notes |
| UP 411 | UP 2411 | C30-7 | 2/6/97 | |
| UP 412 | UP 2412 | C30-7 | 1/10/97 | |
| UP 414 | UP 2414 | C30-7 | 2/7/97 | |
| UP 416 | UP 2416 | C30-7 | 2/11/97 | |
| UP 419 | UP 2419 | C30-7 | 2/4/97 | |
| UP 420 | UP 2420 | C30-7 | 2/11/97 | |
| UP 464 | UP 2467 | C30-7 | 2/3/97 | |
| UP 472 | UP 2476 | C30-7 | 1/28/97 | |
| UP 474 | UP 2478 | C30-7 | 2/26/97 | |
| UP 495 | UP 2500 | C30-7 | 2/4/97 | |
| UP 496 | UP 2501 | C30-7 | 2/11/97 | |
| UP 497 | UP 2502 | C30-7 | 2/11/97 | |
| UP 498 | UP 2503 | C30-7 | 1/24/97 | |
| UP 499 | UP 2504 | C30-7 | 2/21/97 | |
| UP 500 | UP 2505 | C30-7 | 2/26/97 | |
| UP 501 | UP 2506 | C30-7 | 2/15/97 | |
| UP 503 | UP 2508 | C30-7 | 2/3/97 | |
| UP 505 | UP 2511 | C30-7 | 2/10/97 | |
| UP 507 | UP 2513 | C30-7 | 2/3/97 | |
| UP 508 | UP 2514 | C30-7 | 2/5/97 | |
| UP 525 | UP 2531 | C30-7 | 2/10/97 | |
| UP 527 | UP 2533 | C30-7 | 2/24/97 | |
| UP 607 | UP 9007 | C36-7 | 2/18/97 | (ex-MP 9007) |
| UP 650 | UP 9050 | C36-7 | 2/15/97 | (ex-MP 9050) |
| UP 698 | C&NW 5513 | GP40 | 1/6/97 | |
| UP 807 | UP 590 | GP40 | 2/4/97 | (ex-MKT 220) |
| UP 1089 | SSW 2490 | SW1500 | 2/14/97 | |
| UP 1112 | SP 2526 | SW1500 | 2/__/97 | (renumbered on SP) |
| UP 1151 | SP 2574 | SW1500 | 2/__/97 | (renumbered on SP) |
| UP 1174 | SP 2606 | SW1500 | 2/__/97 | (renumbered on SP) |
| UP 1181 | SP 2637 | SW1500 | 1/13/97 | |
| UP 1182 | SP 2648 | SW1500 | 2/15/97 | |
| UP 1190 | SP 2620 | SW1500 | 2/__/97 | (renumbered on SP) |
| UP 1199 | SP 2657 | SW1500 | 2/7/97 | |
| UP 2997 | C&NW 6865 | SD40-2 | 1/6/97 | |
| UP 3040 | C&NW 6875 | SD40-2 | 2/5/97 | |
| UP 3050 | C&NW 6848 | SD40-2 | 2/20/97 | |
| UP 3075 | C&NW 6911 | SD40-2 | 1/24/97 | |
| UP 3078 | C&NW 6915 | SD40-2 | 2/27/97 | |
| UP 3087 | C&NW 6924 | SD40-2 | 1/16/97 | |
| UP 3100 | UP 1896 | SD40-2 | 11/29/96 | (reported late) |
| UP 5094 | C&NW 7034 | SD50M | 2/17/97 | |
| UP 5528 | C&NW 5074 | GP50 | 2/10/97 | |
| UP 5545 | C&NW 5082 | GP50 | 1/30/97 | |
| UP 5555 | C&NW 5091 | GP50 | 2/5/97 | |
| UP 5560 | UP 962 | GP50 | 2/6/97 | (ex-MP 3502) |
| UP 5876 | SP 9777 | GP60 | 2/21/97 | |
| UP 5965 | C&NW 8044 | SD60 | 2/18/97 | |
| UP 9050 | C&NW 8528 | C40-8 | 2/24/97 | |
| UP 9564 | SP 8100 | C44-9 | 2/12/97 | |
| UP 9760 | C&NW 8656 | C44-9W | 2/11/97 |
Ex-Kennecott Minerals Company (KMC) MP15ACs 122 and 701 were seen in Salt Lake City on March 15 headed for an unknown location for reconditioning and repainting to UP 1429 and 1430. These units are owned by Helm Financial and have been used since initial delivery in 1978 at KMC's Bingham Canyon copper mine and Magna copper mills in northern Utah. The two units were temporarily numbered in their prospective UP slots for movement. KMC 122 was built with an additional 13-inch extension on the engineer's side of its cab to accommodate improved visibility while working in its normal car-dumper service on KMC. This cab extension will likely be removed for service on UP. (Ryan Ballard)
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