Two Union Pacific diesels that hold a special place in a steam lover’s heart

SOMEWHERE IN EASTERN IOWA – I had to be in Iowa overnight last weekend, and while driving both coming and going, I photographed Union Pacific diesels on the main line that warmed the heart of this steam lover on a chilly weekend.

On the way west, I got on U.S. 30 just east of DeWitt, Iowa, and immediately noticed the tail end of a westbound autorack train. So I did what any of us would do and gave chase. Now UP’s mainline, when it is fluid, is a thing of beauty – trains zip right along through the cornfields, one right after the other --  and on this day of snow flurries, it took me several miles to catch up to the head end. When I finally made it to the front, the leading unit was SD70M No. 4023. The engine is just one of hundreds of Electro-Motive Diesel units on the UP roster, but to me it also occupies a significant spot. It carries the number assigned to the second to the last UP Big Boy, the 4-8-8-4 that is on display overlooking the Missouri River in Omaha, Neb., the original No. 4023.

On the way back home to Milwaukee the next day, I stopped near Stanwood, Iowa, also on U.S. 30, to photograph a westbound hopper train on a beautifully clear but super cold day. The distributed power unit on the back was UP SD70ACe No. 8444. Just another diesel? Well, that one will resonate with those of us raised in the 1960s and 1970s and who recall that UP’s never retired 4-8-4, No. 844, temporarily assumed that four-digit number. Between 1962 and 1989, UP renumbered its last steam locomotive, built in 1944, because a GP30 came along and was running around the system with that number. I would have thought that UP would have let the steam locomotive keep its number since it had it first, but Omaha didn’t see it that way. (Incidentally, Southern Railway twice of leased steam power for its excursion trains with road numbers that duplicated those of freight diesels already on the roster in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Southern came up with a different solution than UP, thought, renumbering GP38s Nos. 2839 and 2716 while the steam locomotives kept their identities.)

So in my mind, on Saturday, I caught a Big Boy heading west carrying new cars and on Sunday a 4-8-4 doing pusher duty on a hopper train. I could see that 4-8-8-4 rolling off mile after mile, the running gear mesmerizing me, just as I could imagine the Northern, a plume of smoke shooting into the topaz sky, leaning into a cut of hoppers. I hope those diesels know they’re carrying on the fine traditions of some of the greatest American steam locomotives to ever polish the rails.

Incidentally, if you enjoy today’s locomotives and want to learn more, be sure to see our new locomotive roster database.