Uncle Pete's GP40 Fleet
Sidebar Sidebar
"UP dispatcher to the Reno Local, Extra 683 East.""Reno Local here."
"Extra 683 East, you have permission to occupy the main from Chilcoot to Reno Junction."
UP GP40 676 on the Tidewater Southern branch in Modesto 12/23/99 (Ken Rattenne Photo)It's January of 1994 and group of railfans speed up to the overlook above Reno Junction, on the old Western Pacific. Below, three GP40s are setting out cars to be picked up later by a passing eastbound freight. At first glance, the fans rejoice at the sight of a like number of GP40s - cool! WP units! But closer inspection reveals these Fortys to be different. Outlanders! Why, there's no air conditioning unit on the cab or signal lights on the nose. Did UP remove these items in a cost-cutting fit? Or could it be that these aren't in fact WP locomotives?
Right!
In fact, the only GP40s to survive on the railroad into 1994 were the small fleet ex-WP GP40-2s and the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas (M-K-T) units now assigned to roadswitcher jobs once held by former WP Forty's and GP35s.
For a railroad that never embraced the 4-axle roadswitcher concept past some dabbling with GP35s and GP38-2s, Union Pacific ended up with a rather large and varied fleet of GP40s.
The first units purchased by the railroad would not see Armour Yellow on their flanks for nearly 15 years. When ordered in 1966, Union Pacific was in the throws of a merger application with the Rock Island Railroad. The struggling Rock desperately needed more road power but was too cash-strapped to finance them itself. Turning to it's potential new owner for help, the Rock placed an order for GP40s, with UP financing units 340-372. In 1970, the Rock placed another order and UP once again opened its purse strings to finance units 4703-4719. All locomotives were delivered in full Rock Island markings. These no-frills, off-the-shelf units were sans dynamic brakes, and worked the granger road until its liquidation in 1980. Upon their return to UP, the company promptly painted (most) of them and put them to work as local power where they worked on both UP and Missouri Pacific lines after the 1982 merger. A couple of the units even made it out to former WP territory, working the East Bay town of Milpitas before being retired in .
These units were high mileage, however, and it didn't take the mechanical department long to begin disposing of the misfits. Many ended up at used-locomotive dealer Precision National, while several others were leased to Mexico, returning north of the border in 1990, only to be retired.
The next dance with GP40s occurred when Union Pacific purchased an experimental hybrid called the GP40X. Santa Fe and Southern Pacific were the only other roads to place an order for these prototypes for the GP50. UP received their first 3,500 hp unit in December of 1977, and another five in February and March of 1978. Numbered 9000-9005, the model was a GP40 in name only, its' most distinguishing feature being the SD45-like flared radiators.
It wasn't until the 1982 merger with Western Pacific that UP gained another gaggle of real GP40s. The company's last fleet of Forty's was acquired again through merger - this time with the Missouri-Kansas-Texas. The 3,100 mile Katy, like the Western Pacific, relied heavily on GP40s for mainline power. Units 182-193 were stored then returned to their lessor, never seeing service on the UP proper. Units 207, 208, 216, 221 and 230 were sold to M/K, where they were rebuilt and resold to Southern Pacific as GP40Ms. Also vacated from the roster were MKT 210, 217 and 223, the last two being wrecked.
Meanwhile, Union Pacific quickly repainted the Katy fleet of Fortys and deployed them around the system. The MKT fleet was a mixture of dynamic brake-equipped units (666-683)and brakeless units (501-515, 581-597) It was the former that were assigned to the west. Of all of the GP40s rostered by UP, the 666-683 series is probably the most colorful. Katy purchased the 17 ex-Penn Central units from Conrail, and numbered them as MKT 231-248. It's these units that labor on today, the last of their breed on the West's most (arguably) progressive railroad.
Ironically, just as it appeared that the "Katy Forties" would be the final members of the GP40 fleet, UP pulled into its fold the Chicago & North Western locomotive fleet, then in September of 1996, added Southern Pacific's huge locomotive roster.
The addition of SP's fleet of GP40-2s, GP40Ms, and GP40P-2s gives UP the largest fleet of 3000-hp B-B units it's ever had. Ironically, a few of SP's GP40M rebuilds even came from -- the Katy!
So the saga of Union Pacific's GP40 fleet continues, probably well into the 21st Century.
- Ken Rattenne
[Read about one of UP's Katy GP40s, Mr. 589]