Was there an overlap with the Union Pacific SD90Macs and ES44ACs?

[Brammy]

Here's the thing: The more I look at the SD90 MACs from Athearn, the more I want one. My UP current modeling for the UP is GEVOs and up.

Trying to look through the railroad archive sites for lashups of the SD90s can be a fool's game at times, and is hard to prove a plausible.

From my general research there seems to be a slight overlap: the GEVOs showed up in 2006, and I think around 2008 the SD90s were scapped. It's a narrow window for sure, and the first rule of model railroading, "forget if it was real, it looks cool," applies anyway.

[Doughless]

So your basic question is about the UP:  

Did it run ES44ACs and 90MACS in consists for the two years they were in service together?

Maybe there is a UP forum that could help too.

For my modeling tastes, that crosses the line where the pursuit of technical accuracy interferes too much with having fun.  I say run them together.  Its close enough.

[PennCentral99]

Brammy

From my general research there seems to be a slight overlap: the GEVOs showed up in 2006, and I think around 2008 the SD90s were scapped. It's a narrow window for sure, and the first rule of model railroading, "forget if it was real, it looks cool," applies anyway.

Not sure where you came up with that cutoff date. Plenty of prototype pics of Union Pacific SD90MACs that were taken years after 2008. So, why couldn't it be plausible they could have been lashed up with ES44ACs?

Terry

[Brammy]

PennCentral99

 

 

Not sure where you came up with that cutoff date. Plenty of prototype pics of Union Pacific SD90MACs that were taken years after 2008. So, why couldn't it be plausible they could have been lashed up with ES44ACs?

Terry

 

 

Going down a fun rabbit hole on a Friday.

The Athearn models are SD90MAC-H2s, numbered 8522 and higher. These units were returned to EMD when the lease expired. These went to EMLX. I think the lease expired in December 2005 or 2006.

The SD90 units that remained were SD9043MACs, numbered 8000-8308 were renumbered to 3470-3775 to make room for the ES44ACs. These are likely the units folks see past the lease expiring date.

There is a big visual difference between the SD90-h2s, and the SD9043: The h-2 has a nose visually similar to a SD70ACE, and the SD9043 looks more like a SD70M.

As a way of now answering my own question, the Athearn model is unlikely to run with a GEVO, but the window it missed is narrow. Likely a few months. 

As Doughless said, though, this is an observation only someone who has done the research would notice, and part of the fun of the hobby is some "what if" lashups.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_SD90MAC

[dehusman]

As a side note, the UP found that if they stored the SD90's the average train speed went up on the system, the SD90's failed that much.

[mbinsewi]

Brammy

As a way of now answering my own question, the Athearn model is unlikely to run with a GEVO, but the window it missed is narrow. Likely a few months. 

There ya go!  your questioned answered by you,  because you did the reasaerch, because it's quite obvious that you need to be as prototypical as possible.

To me, everything past the dash 9's all look close to the same.  I'm not one to keep up with all that.  I run what I like.

Brammy

As Doughless said, though, this is an observation only someone who has done the research would notice, and part of the fun of the hobby is some "what if" lashups.

My thoughts, exactly!

Somewhere, there must be a forum where such things are discussed on a regular basis.

Have fun, run trains.

Mike.

PS.  Check your PM, I sent you a message.

[Brammy]

mbinsewi

There ya go!  your questioned answered by you,  because you did the reasaerch, because it's quite obvious that you need to be as prototypical as possible.

To me, everything past the dash 9's all look close to the same.  I'm not one to keep up with all that.  I run what I like.Have fun, run trains.

 

 

Thanks!

I really enjoy doing the research. I work as an analyst and exploring when different lashups are plausible is fun of the research. However, I joke that the first thing you learn in journalism school is "don't let the facts get in the way of a good story."

You are correct and the GE line does look similar.

I enjoy a good rivet counting exercise, but for me the basic rule is: how does it look?  In this case, the SD90MACs just look too cool to eliminate buying them.

[mbinsewi]

Brammy

In this case, the SD90MACs just look too cool to eliminate buying them.

And I agree to that !

Mike.