Personal Projects, Photography, and Pointless Pontifications
UP Wimmer Engineering Special 2008
On 4-Apr-2008, a Union Pacific engineering inspection special left Council Bluffs for a whirlwind tour of the UP system. The specials, run every other year or so, have often been nicknamed the “Wimmer Engineering Special” after UP Vice President of Engineering and passenger Bill Wimmer. As is tradition, his specials are almost always powered by Union Pacific’s sole remaining DDA40X “Centennial”, number 6936. This year’s trip would again bring the train across the former Rio Grande lines. Considering Mr. Wimmer’s impending retirement (and thus the uncertain future use of 6936 on these trips or even the running of these specials at all), I decided that chasing was on my list of “must do” trips this year. The schedule, as planned, would bring the special over the Utah half of the Grande on Sunday, 13-Apr-2008, and continue out of Grand Junction to Denver (and on to Sharon Springs, KS) on Monday, 14-Apr-2008.
Sunday, April 13, 2008 – Pocatello to Grand Junction
I decided to start at the train’s planned origin on Sunday –
Pocatello, ID. The only problem was that at the crew call time of 0500h
on Sunday, 6936 and train were nowhere to be found. As it turns out,
they’d encountered significant delays the previous day, and were still
working their way over from Hinkle, OR. So, my chase actually began
about 25 miles west of Pocatello, at the Snake River bridge in American
Falls, ID. The disruption in schedule apparently through off a good
number of fans, as I only saw one other photographer out between
American Falls and Ogden, UT. It was a beautiful day, and it made for a
great chase over the Ogden Sub. The train took forever getting out of
Salt Lake, though, and thus it was nearly 1900h by the time it reached
Provo. There was little to no light in the canyons of Soldier Summit,
and what few spots were lit typically put the sun immediately behind the
train. Just after Detour, the line was completely in the dark, aside
from a small spot near the summit. So, while I had quite a few shots
from the day, only a couple were from former Rio Grande lines.
Running as SHKPC-12 (Hinkle, OR, to Pocatello, ID), the train is over half a day late. It was supposed to be into Pocatello on Saturday night, but here it is passing over the Snake River at American Falls, ID, at 1022h on Sunday. Still, this was a nice place to sit and wait on it, even if the cops did come by to check on me every hour or so.
At Bannock, ID, 6936 was delayed again waiting on a westbound manifest. Here’s our perp, UP 9400 west, as it approaches Bannock.
A interesting load on the train is this 8-axle depressed center flat carrying a new transformer for points west.
Wasting no time, 6936 accelerates out of the meet for Pocatello. The crew of 9400 west was not so lucky, though – the special’s crew noticed a bit of metal sticking out one side, about 20 cars deep. Must have been on the conductor’s side, as I didn’t see it
Just a “going away” shot at Bannock, with a highball on the intermediate and one of the ubiquitous elevators in the background.
Damn vandals – how many unpatched Grande covered hoppers do you suppose are still out there? This one’s at the west end of the Pocatello yard.
Pulling into Pocatello and getting ready to change crews, as seen from the Center St. bridge.
Big Jack at the fuel rack. (Sorry, couldn’t resist – thought that one up in my sleep-deprived state that morning.) I’ve never known exactly to which “Jack” the common railfan nickname for the DDA40X actually refers.
I had hoped, before actually seeing how Pocatello was laid out, to somehow get the 6936 in the same frame as Pocatello’s stuffed and mounted DDA40X, 6901. Unfortunately, it’s not possible, so here’s 6901 as she appears in the park.
Sitting in the park along with 6901 is UP 2-8-2 #2005 and Oregon Short Line caboose 5784.
With a fresh crew and a new symbol (SPCGJ-13), the special doesn’t spend long in Pocatello. Just moments after I arrived at this spot east of Inkom, ID, 6936 showed up and caught me by surprise. Note the lava flow in the background, produced from a volcano over near Soda Springs.
Running along the eroded edge of the lava flow near McCammon, ID, the train is about to leave the tracks built by UP as the Oregon Short Line (which diverge eastward at McCammon) and enter the Ogden Subdivision.
There was a significant delay between McCammon and Arimo for something that involved having the dispatcher call in the Idaho State Police (no idea on the details). On the move again, we see the train again near Virginia, where US 89 heads southeast from I-15. That’s the snow-covered Portneuf Range in the background.
South of Downey, the line follows a grassy valley on its climb towards Red Rock Pass. While waiting on 6936 to show up, I noticed these very unusual fence posts. I guess when there aren’t convenient sources of wood, you go with something else!
There’s the special, making its way along the Ogden Sub south of Downey. The line was built as narrow gauge by the Utah Northern (later the Utah & Northern under UP control) between 1872 and 1881. The Pocatello to Ogden segment was standard gauged in late 1890.
Just a “splitting the signals” shot. I like the Grande-style hooded vertical signals better, but you have to admit that UP’s old style is instantly recognizable.
Topping over Red Rock Pass, SPCGJ-13 is about to head downhill towards the Cache Valley and Utah. Rock Rock Pass is geologically notable, as it’s the location where the ancient Lake Bonneville cut the channel through which much of it drained some 14,500 years ago.
After passing through Coulam southbound, they took off like a shot. Within the course of a few minutes, I went from pacing 6936 to not even being able to see the rear observation car. It would take nearly fifty route miles and the slow track through the Bear River Gorge to allow me to catch him again at Honeyville, UT. Even this was a total grab shot.
Signal problems allowed another catch at Brigham City. As a historical footnote, the wye just north of town that connects UP’s Malad Branch was also once used by the Southern Pacific (post 1903) as part of the old Transcontinental Railroad line via Promontory Summit. (Honestly it saw little use in this manner, as the Lucin Cutoff trestle handled almost all traffic by late 1904, but it stayed connected until 1942.)
Passing the 1906 Brigham City, UT, depot
In a bizarre twist of fate, one of the other units sitting at Brigham City was UP 3262. Just another SD40-2, you say? Try again – this is one of UP’s so-called “Fast Forties”, designed for high-speed running with the DDA40X Centennials. While it and its ilk been reduced to local service, many of them survive today on the UP roster, unlike 6936’s siblings.
The train took forever to get from Salt Lake to Provo, so there were few decent shots to be had over Soldier Summit. Some of Sunday’s last light hits the train as it comes down off the Thistle bypass at the US Hwy 89 crossing. Most of the time when the train was lit after leaving Provo, the sun was directly behind it.
Last light, near the Narrows. That’s a wrap for Sunday – on to Grand Junction for five hours of sleep, and then it’s on the road again to chase SGJSS-14 towards Denver.
Monday, April 14, 2008 – Grand Junction to Denver
Monday, however, ran on schedule or even a bit early. Despite having arrived in Grand Junction around 0020h, the special was out promptly at 0535h. Obviously this was well before sunrise – first light didn’t hit until around Rifle, and I stopped for the first shot at Silt. (Honestly, thanks to Nathan Z for letting me know when they left Grand Junction. I’m not really a morning person, and after only about five hours of sleep, I wasn’t exactly awake or in any mood to chase anything.) The chase across the Moffat was quick, arriving in Denver just before 1400h. All across the route, there were only a few minor delays to meet a couple of coal empties and Amtrak’s westbound Zephyr, and overall the chase was relatively calm and pleasant – a refreshing change for chasing a UP special move! Enjoy the photos, as there’s no telling when the world’s largest locomotive will go “Through the Rockies – Not Around!”
Having arrived about 1220h on Monday morning, the schedule pulled out a bit over five hours later (and 25 minutes early) at 0535h. Since daybreak isn’t quite that early, I had to chase all the way to Silt, CO, to get it in the first morning light.
I took a chance on Glenwood having light by the time it arrived, but it didn’t pan out. So, with very little light in Glenwood Canyon other than at No Name, it was on up the road to Dotsero.
And just outside Bond, on the Cutoff.
A bit wider view from the same location as #26, showing the Colorado River, red rocks, and snow-covered mountains in the background.
Along the road between McCoy and Bond
Coming into West Bond
Crossing over at Center Bond, as the other track was being held by a manifest (probably MNYPH, North Yard to Phippsburg, would be my guess). The line to the right is the original Denver & Salt Lake, now the Craig Branch.
Coming around into Yarmony, past the hotbox detector at milepost 125.
Another shot along the Colorado River at Yarmony.
Invading Tyler’s “secret spot” near Azure and looking down on Tunnel 40. The scenery is really starting to make such an enormous diesel look rather tiny. The Rio Grande lines have a way of putting the size of these machines in perspective.
And of course the shot looking towards Kremmling from Inspiration Point.
There’s trouble for the special at Troublesome, but fortunately not the type in the old Rio Grande training film. Today, it’s just the empty Colorado Springs Utilities Drake Plant train. After all, if it weren’t for this train, I wouldn’t have the power to be typing this report.
And 6936 retakes the main as soon as the CSUX train clears. We thought they might meet Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr here as well, but apparently not.
Wasting no time accelerating out of Troublesome…
What trip across the Moffat would be complete without a Byers Canyon shot?
Another view in Byers Canyon. Interesting note – a CDOT guy who had stopped with us at Troublesome finally asked the foaming horde what was so special about this train. I believe his eventual conclusion was that you had to be a train enthusiast to appreciate it.
You can always depend on some of the pooling waters in Byers to give you reflection shots.
After meeting Amtrak at Hot Sulphur Springs, the special’s on the move again east toward Granby and just about to duck under US Hwy 40.
I got skunked in Granby, so the next stop was the Frasier platform. Not the most creative shot, but by this time I was getting a bit tired and hungry.
Secret Spot! (Seriously, it’s Blue Mountain Road, at about milepost 22.6 and on the way down to Denver – if there’s any Colorado railfan who doesn’t recognize it, turn in your railfan card now.)
One last shot at Leyden. I’d wanted to shoot it west of Pecos as well, but by the time I got to North Yard, it was already headed for the new flyover to the Belt Line. That’s it, folks! Two hard days of chasing, and 45 lousy shots and a bent radiator frame on my CR-V (hitting big rocks hurts…) were the only things I came away with. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed getting them.
All photographs in this trip report were taken with a Canon EOS 40D using either a Canon 24-105mm F4 L IS/USM, Sigma 18-50mm, or a Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS/USM.
This work is copyright 2022 by Nathan D. Holmes, but all text and images are licensed and reusable under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. Basically you’re welcome to use any of this as long as it’s not for commercial purposes, you credit me as the source, and you share any derivative works under the same license. I’d encourage others to consider similar licenses for their works.
