Sunday, August 17, 2014

1981 Union Pacific GP40 Manifest Freight


In mid 1980, Union Pacific changed the standard on horn placement, moving them to the front of the loco on the cab roof.  The antennae was moved to right of center.  Heavily weathered GP40, an Atlas 8 wheel drive unit with a solid metal chassis.

I am pretty sure that this unit is a GP40-2.  Most of the GP40 genre locos on the UP came through the acquisition of other railroads.  I am not sure where these two Geeps came from, but I have seen a picture of a prototype UP GP40-2 numbered 672, so these numbers seem correct.


Last of the series of 60 GP38-2's, engine number 2059 was delivered in April of 1975.

UP 2031, delivered in May of 1974, follows the new standard of horns mounted on the cab roof.  It has an updated paint job.

These GP38-2 are early Kato models.  While the initial models were very heavy and can pull a ton (frame similar to their GP50's), they are noisier than later Kato offerings.  However, they do run smooth with proper lubrication.



Roundhouse class Bx-182 ATSF Shock Control car, with MT wheel sets and body mounted couplers.  There are a dozen of these cars roaming my Needles Division.


Outside braced 36' covered hopper of unknown origin.

Two MT hoppers,, both weathered down to wheel sets.

Custom painted and decaled Model Rectifier 50' plug door box car.  PRR reporting numbers painted over and Conrail numbers added.  No effort was taken to remove the PRR logo.  Roof walk removed.

Three MT covered hoppers

Another Bx-182

This Bachmann car goes back to the 70's, and was one of the first seven box cars that I purchased. This Central of Georgia car has the roof walk removed, and was my first attempt at weathering.  Although poorly done, it has sentimental value.

This ADMX car has rust weathering across the body top, with GMM railings and steps


Three ADM cars, GMM equipped and weathered.

NP 50' DD box sans roof walk.  MT car.








MT B&O 50' DD box, and, of course, roof walk removed.

Airslide hopper, weathered. One of few instances where the Santa Fe used grey cars with black lettering.




WP 60' Beer car from Red Caboose.  One of three different paint schemes applied by WP to this car class.  All three are present on the Needles Division.
SP 60' Beer car from Red Caboose. I always like the Hydra Cushion logo on SP freight cars. 
Stock Reading 40' box car sans roof walk
Conrail car from MT, a 50' DD box.
Seaboard Coast Line 50' plug door box car.  I removed the roof walk.  Black can be tough to weather
A couple of DuPont tankers, weathered, but it hardly shows.   I worked for DuPont for some 20 years.
Another short line box car from MT,  The red is a very attractive color on this car.  Slightly weathered.
A Mopac 50' outside braced plug door box, weathered.
NW 40' box car, slightly weathered.  Stock from MT.

A Central Vermont 50' outside braced plug door box, weathered, with the "Noodle" CV logo.  (The CV and GT fall under the domain of the Canadian National.)

A Bachmann car from the 70's, stripped, roof walk removed, custom painted and decaled, MT trucks, body mounted couplers, brakewheel and steps. Then weathered. All this for a box car I originally bought for $2.49

Again, a beautiful Centralia caboose.

You can see a video of this train on YouTube at:


http://youtu.be/2LAsSDXZXzk

Thanks for your interest.