| Six-Axle Diesel Purchases |
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| (Excluding SD40T-2s) | |||
| Number Range | Mfg / Type | Qty (Qty of units) | Date Purchased |
| 600 – 601 | Alco PA1 / PB1 | 6 | 1947 |
| 5300 – 5304 | EMD SD7 | 5 | 1953 |
| 5305 – 5314 | EMD SD9 | 10 | 1957 |
| 4001 – 4003 | Krauss-Maffei ML-4000 | 3 | 1961 |
| 5315 – 5324 | EMD SD45 | 10 | Jan – Feb 1967 |
| 5325 – 5340 | EMD SD45 | 16 | Mar – May 1968 |
| 5501-5517 | EMD SD50 | 17 | Aug 1984 |
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Alco PB-1 locomotive 600B (6002). Rebuilt as Steam Generator car 253 in 1966 (prime mover removed; radiator panels removed; two boilers installed). The Alco 3-axle trucks were replaced in 1980 with 2-axle EMD Blomberg trucks. Photo from January 1982. | ||
| Early SDs | |||
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SD7 No. 5303, parked at Burnham opposite the shop, i.e. on the dead line. This first-generation 6-motor unit was built in 1953. Here it wears its second and last-ever D&RGW paint scheme. Courtesy of Doug Junda. | ||
| SD45s | |||
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SD45 No. 5315, westbound at East Portal in the Spring of 1968. She is the lowest-numbered SD45. Right behind is No. 5334, a third SD45, and a GP30. | ||
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SD45 No. 5316, seen at Coal Creek on 4/08/1984. It’s splicing two pairs of tunnel motors, the five of which are leading the CSDPU train. Unfortunately I have misplaced the negative to this photo, leaving only this deep scan of the print to work with. The unit wears the small (original) Rio Grande herald. | ||
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SD45 No. 5321, eastbound out of the Moffat Tunnel sometime during the spring of 1968. She is slightly over one year old in this photo. | ||
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SD45 No. 5328 as she appeared after reincarnation as UP 4741. Seen here as an SD40-2, finally rid of her troublesome 20-cylinder prime mover, at Tucumcari in March 2001. Even so she’d be retired by UP about a year later. Going into the CEFX fleet as No. 2791, she was active all over North America at least until 2011. | ||
| SD50s | |||
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SD50 No. 5502. Top: Sometime around 1995, this Grande unit leads an Espee piggyback train on the Tehachapi loop, CA. Notice the extremely grimy appearance. The SD50s spent much of the SPL era working the hills in southern California. (Clarence Dent photo)
Bottom: Here she is, in a grab shot as she races through Deming, NM on a rainy September 3, 2006. Not many units left showing any Rio Grande paint in 2006, so this was a nice surprise. Emphasis on “surprise”- I barely had time to get the camera out of my lap! |
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Four views of SD50 No. 5503, taken by Bryan Flint in Seger, TX (dead center between Houston, Austin, and Waco) on August 2, 2003. Although taken some years after the UP merger, these photos show several interesting features to good effect.Essentially, this unit is unchanged from its SPL modifications circa 1995, as follows:
What is also still visible are most of the Chessie options which came on these units as delivered:
Distinctive Rio Grande items include:
The 5503 was renumbered to UP 9849 on 13 April 2005 |
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Top: SD50 No. 5506, November 19, 1990, on the departure track at North Yard (Denver). Bottom: Here it is during the late Southern Pacific era (circa 1995), working in California along with fellow SD50 No. 5514, which had been repainted in SP colors by then. (Clarence Dent photo.)The 5506 was repainted as UP 5100 on Sept. 4, 2001. |
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SD50 No. 5507 is seen on Nov. 20, 1991 at Tunnel One, as the fourth unit from the front of a loaded coal train. The 5507 was the last SD50 to remain in original D&RGW colors, finally being patched as UP 9851 on August 3, 200
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SD50 No. 5511.
Top: Actually, that’s tunnel motor No. 5350. However, the third unit in the consist is the 5511. It’s my only photo of it in D&RGW colors. (November 1991) Bottom: wearing its Southern Pacific camouflage, is seen in Kansas with a sister SD50. Brad Hoeme photo. |
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SD50 No. 5512 — photographed Dec. 1991, when she was on the swing helper set of an eastbound coal train, diving into Tunnel One. The 5512 was repainted as Union Pacific No. 5106. | ||
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SD50 No. 5515 is seen on June 29, 1995 leading a four unit swing helper on an eastbound coal train at Glenwood Springs, CO. Top image: approaching and passing the depot.
Bottom: passing by and throttling up as they hit the canyon grade. You can see the engineer’s silhouette in this shot. The 5515 was repainted as UP 5109 on Oct. 3, 2001. |
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Here’s the back half of SD50 No. 5517. Unfortunately I didn’t get the whole locomotive in this November 1991 shot (though I did get all of number 5395 to the left). You can see the high-mounted bell here, as well as the bundles of cable and piping below the frame.
This unit was repainted into SP colors after the merger, then later received two different UP numbers before being retired. |
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