Union Pacific SD62E

[Leo_Ames]

Discovered tonight that Union Pacific has been rebuilding SD60's and reclassifying them, but can't locate any details on the sort of work being undertaken. Anyone know the details?

Thanks

[SD70Dude]

The only information I can find (secondhand, from posts on Trainorders) indicates that these units have been modified to run backwards more easily, for use on single unit locals.

The control stand has been moved so that it is exactly parallel with the cab side wall, instead of being angled, a second speedometer has been added on the cab's rear wall, and rear ditchlights and a rear-facing camera have been added, mounted just below the rear headlight (no, not a backup camera for the Engineer, just a recorder).

There are some GP62's that have received the same modifications.  

Except for the rear camera, these modifications sound pretty similar to the configuration of CN's SD75I's, and those are our best units to run backwards. 

[YoHo1975]

Not quite right. That explains the conversion from SD60 to SD62, but not to SD62E

 

If you want to know what's up with locomotives, I always start with SGW on Loconotes. The GP62/SD62 upgrade indeed moved the control stand slightly, added a back wall speedometer and Rear facing camera and Ditch lights. That program ran 2014 to 2016 and is complete.

NOW, they are converting SD62s to SD62Es which is an upgrade to the EM2000 computer and a replacement of the mechanical injectors with Electronic. My source for this is the comments on Loconotes UP February 2019 Roster Update https://groups.io/g/loconotes/

[SD70Dude]

That group was surprisingly easy to join.  Thanks!

I was hoping you or someone else would pop up and provide more accurate info.

Is SGW affiliated with the manufacturer of the same name?

[YoHo1975]

No, I just didn't want to type out his entire name. Sean Graham White. He runs loconotes and has been the source for much of Railroad Illustrated's updates over the years. I'm sure his biography extends beyond that as well.

[SD70Dude]

Thanks again.  I'll have to spend some time playing around and getting the hang of that Yahoo site's software.  My first impression is that it makes the Kalmbach stuff look advanced...

[YoHo1975]

It's an old school email list...but with a website if you don't actually want an email list. :D

[Leo_Ames]

Thanks again for the answers.

I'll have to rejoin Loconotes. I didn't bother to redirect it after switching away from my ISP provided e-mail account to Google years ago since I was under the impression Yahoo Groups was going away shortly when I did this a decade or so ago. 

I wonder if I'll ever be able to remember my password to Yahoo, if my account hasn't been deleted at this point from years of inactivity. 

[Overmod]

Leo_Ames

I'll have to rejoin Loconotes. I didn't bother to redirect it after switching away from my ISP provided e-mail account to Google years ago since I was under the impression Yahoo Groups was going away shortly when I did this a decade or so ago.

Bear in mind that this is the 'new' LocoNotes, which is hosted at groups.io and not with YahooGroups. 

One of the great tragedies of the modern style of software management was the wretched /neo/ project that Yahoo undertook to "modernize" Groups.  This resulted in one of the original engineers who worked on 'groups' platforms (e.g., e-mail reflectors amplified with Web resources and presence) forming a new company that wouldn't have the problems Groups did, including the writing of automated tools to facilitate moving a Yahoo group over to be hosted on his servers -- and of course many thousands of Yahoo Groups have done this.  (steam_tech remains one of the very few 'holdouts', mostly for two significant reasons (Yahoo has much, much better 'free' file and picture support, and there are perceived severe rights issues with content on groups.io)

If you look at the URL posted for LocoNotes, you will see that it is now a groups.io entity.  You would sign up directly, and not invoke Yahoo/Oath/Verizon/whatever it is now at all.

[Leo_Ames]

Does anyone know what was done with Union Pacific's "GP60E" model? Diesel Shop roster shows them modernizing GP60's between 2019-2023 at the Jenks Shop.

Is it possibly just the installation of EM2000 and a switch to electronic fuel injection, with no cab changes to make running backwards easier (Otherwise, GP62E would appear to be more in line with how they were classifying these)? 

[YoHo1975]

I know they stopped doing the 62 upgrades. I think mainly to save money and time. I'm not sure though. all the units up in Roseville are 62Es I believe. Even the Cotton belt units that managed to miss the paint booth.