UP Locomotive shortage

[brothaslide]

Brought back some memories. I used to ride the bus to the Los Angeles All City Marching Band practice at Dodger Stadium. The bus used to go by Taylor Yard so I had to get a few good glances at the SP equipment that was there back in the early 80's.

[Anonymous]

Probably Dash 7's. They look quite similar to U-boats.

Funny thing about the power shortage. There's a lot of UP power showing up on CN these days, over here in Southern Ontario.

Of course, CN has a power shortage of it's own, despite having over 40 of it's locomotives off on lease and the fact that CN is scrapping perfectly good GP40-2L(W)'s.

[Anonymous]

I know I probably should post this on a Trains forum rather than an MR forum, but there has been a confluence of events that I have found interesting that may open up some possibilities for UP modellers. I work in downtown LA and when I drive home in the evening, I take a shortcut by Dodger Stadium that overlooks the UP (former SP) Taylor Yard. Over the past couple of weeks, I noticed that some old SP locomotives were brought in for refurbishing. They appear to be aome fairly old GE units, but I have to keep my eyes on the road, so I only get a momentary glance. The units have been refurbished and appear to have a gray primer coat of pain with a red stripe at the bottom. Looks like they will be repainted in UP colors. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had an article on page 1 discussing the locomotive shortage that UP is currently experiencing and the drag that is placing on the national economy because goods shipped through the UP system are not getting to market.

My questions are--does anyone know what typre of GE units are being refurbished? The appear to be of the U Boat vintage (perhaps U-30's), but I am not sure. Does it make sense the UP would be refurbishing units that are that old? If so, it really opens up some interesting modelling possibilities for those who model the current era.