Loco Info


Looks like an old Atlas GP38. Were cream of the crop when they were first introduced, but that was how many years ago? Early 80s?

I always wanted the SD24, but they cost too much compared to my budget of Athearns.
 
Thanks very much for the info but when did the prototypes run from and to, and what duties were they common on. Was the early 80's the model introduction or the real thing?

It is in fact marked Atlas on the underside of one of the bogies and runs like a dream. I was given it by a client and it is this that has kindlled a passion in my son and I to model a USA exhibition railroad based on the UP. These locos cost about £15 over here secondhand, I guess thats about $25 to $30 and £60 new ( about $90ish?). Very good value based on the UK outline products which retail anywhere from £80 to £300 ( $150 - $550)

Chris
 
GP38s were introduced in 1966 and can still be found in service on most any railroad. Lots have been rebuilt. There is also the GP38-2, introduced in 1972 as an improvement over the GP38.
I'm not much of a UP expert, but the original UP versions are still running.
Good source of pictures of UP 2000 series locomotives can be found here:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/up/up-2000.html
Most of the GP38s were used in local service and very infrequently on the main line.
When they were bought, the UP was not the giant road it is now. It consisted of the line to Ogden from Omaha, with lines to the Washington/Oregon area and another to California.
 
Beyond my wildest hopes, thanks ever so. I am planning to use it on non main line operation based on present day so that fits nicely. Just as an aside, if I were to operate my new switching layout with UP as a RR which other RR should I use?

The concept at exhibitions is UP in the am and then another RR in the pm. My son is rather taken with Santa Fe but we are open to suggestions.

Thanks Dan...Chris
 
Most anything could fit and not seem out of place. There are many places in California where UP and Santa Fe worked side-by-side on the same tracks.
Looks like your son gets Santa Fe.
 
There are many instances of North American railroads running together, leasing equipment, having trackage rights over another road's rails. Since AMTRAC took over almost all passenger service, in 1969, there have been no railroad owned trains of that type. Freight trains may have pooled motive power from different railroads. I am not sure whether the UP and Santa Fe Railway had such an arrangement in the 1980's. The Burlington-Northern might still have "motors" as they called diesel-electric locomotives, still wearing livery of the Great Norther, Northern Pacific and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, since the first two had owned the third since the 1890's, though forced by the government to keep separate books.
Hope this is some help. You and your son can always create a fictious joint branch line of the UP and Santa Fe Railway.
 
The major places the UP (pre-MP merger) and ATSF touched were in Kansas City, Denver and Los Angeles.

If you go post-MP merger then the UP and ATSF touched in Texas (El Paso, Ft Worth, Sweetwater, Houston, Galveston, Beaumont) plus additional places in Kansas, and in the Oakland area.

Sharing engines in a switching area is way less likely than sharing engines on a road train. The best scenario for what you want to do with ATSF and UP is to say your layout is terminal railroad jointly owned by both the ATSF and UP. It has no engines of its own, but uses engines supplied by the owners. There are dozens of examples of that type of operation across the country. You can make up your own railroad (Harbor Terminal RR, Terminal Belt RR, etc.) and then use whatever engines you declare the owners are. For example in Houston the Port Terminal Railroad Assoc. (PTRA) in the 1970's was owned jointly by the MP, ATSF, FWD, CRIP, and MKT and used engines from all those roads.
 
dave1905 said:
The major places the UP (pre-MP merger) and ATSF touched were in Kansas City, Denver and Los Angeles.

If you go post-MP merger then the UP and ATSF touched in Texas (El Paso, Ft Worth, Sweetwater, Houston, Galveston, Beaumont) plus additional places in Kansas, and in the Oakland area.

Sharing engines in a switching area is way less likely than sharing engines on a road train. The best scenario for what you want to do with ATSF and UP is to say your layout is terminal railroad jointly owned by both the ATSF and UP. It has no engines of its own, but uses engines supplied by the owners. There are dozens of examples of that type of operation across the country. You can make up your own railroad (Harbor Terminal RR, Terminal Belt RR, etc.) and then use whatever engines you declare the owners are. For example in Houston the Port Terminal Railroad Assoc. (PTRA) in the 1970's was owned jointly by the MP, ATSF, FWD, CRIP, and MKT and used engines from all those roads.
Click to expand...
This is an old thread, the OP hasn't been seen since 2007.
 
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