Beacons started appearing on the UP E-units (cab units only) in the late 1960's and the 951 had one when it was sent out for rebuilding.
Yes, the warning light was usually a red & white or red-only light.
binder001 I have one A and one B units.. Haven't put them though the program track yet. Too many toys, not enough time! Anyway, the external appearance is good for a 900-class UP E9A from the 1956 purchase. The earlier E9As didn't have the two headlight casings. By the way, when a UP cab unit has the two headlight casings, the lower one is the headlight and the upper one is a signal light used for emergencies and certain stops on the main line. UP did not use oscillating or "Mars" lights over the road like CB&Q or SP did, so turn these OFF! As far as the "bad glue" on the grills, that is a common problem with model cab units that have metal grills. If they used an ACC or other "hard glue" on them, the grills expand and contract at a much different rate than the plastic shell and the grills will pop loose eventually. The best glues seem to be "flexible" glues like contact cement, etc. In my opinion the sound is OK, but not quite as nice as Loksound or TCS, but I aquired my units, so I got what I paid for. Sound is so subjective that you have to decide what sounds good to you in your layout room. I hope you will enjoy your UP E-units
I have one A and one B units.. Haven't put them though the program track yet. Too many toys, not enough time! Anyway, the external appearance is good for a 900-class UP E9A from the 1956 purchase. The earlier E9As didn't have the two headlight casings. By the way, when a UP cab unit has the two headlight casings, the lower one is the headlight and the upper one is a signal light used for emergencies and certain stops on the main line. UP did not use oscillating or "Mars" lights over the road like CB&Q or SP did, so turn these OFF!
As far as the "bad glue" on the grills, that is a common problem with model cab units that have metal grills. If they used an ACC or other "hard glue" on them, the grills expand and contract at a much different rate than the plastic shell and the grills will pop loose eventually. The best glues seem to be "flexible" glues like contact cement, etc.
In my opinion the sound is OK, but not quite as nice as Loksound or TCS, but I aquired my units, so I got what I paid for. Sound is so subjective that you have to decide what sounds good to you in your layout room.
I hope you will enjoy your UP E-units
Thanks! I am using them as 1965-80 era late passenger and business trains. What is prototypical for grade crossing of that era? A beacon?
Photos I've seen have a red lens in the upper position of the upper housing on F units, is that also true of the E?
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)
I just bought a BLI UP E9 A/B set with the Paragon2 sound. It's on its way.
Just looking for some more opinions on what others think of the Paragon2 decoders and these locomotives in general.
I'll be running mine on a Sprog3 layout. What are your experiences? The YouTube videos I've seen look pretty good.
How programmable are these? All I've heard are that the glue on the E9 grilles sometimes goes bad, and that these decoders occasionally need a hard reset if they stop responding.
I almost went for the new Walthers Proto units, but I don't really want the excursion scheme.