u-50 & turbines


blackz28

blackz28

Well-Known Member
i have both H.O scale u-50 & the turbine & i was wondering did they operate them together in a consist ,i mean i assume that they did since they operated around the same time frame , does anybody have pics of the 2 together??
 
The baby turbines, as they were called, would probably not be found running with the U50's. The 4500hp turbines, both slab side & veranda, were in service from 52-64. The U50 service life was from 63-77. While there is one year of overlap in the service lives of the two classes, it's not too likely you would have found them together. It was typical for Locos that were at the end of their service lives to be stored, in some cases years, before they were actually scrapped or sold and removed from the company books. Also, if you recall your UP history, the U50's rode on the trucks and span bolsters of the traded in turbines. One of the favorite diesel partners for the 4500hp turbines were the GP-9's. A common partner for the U50's were the DD35's, which hopefully Athearn will provide for us.

With all that being said, anything is possible. As they say, there is a prototype for everything. If you want to run them together, I promise I won't tell anybody.
 
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I think you should run them together. And I think you should take pictures of it. And I think you should post them here.
 
blackz28 said:
i know that they ran on the traded in trucks of the turbines :)
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Actually, they ran on the traded-in frames and complete running gear, not just the trucks. With that in mind, it would be almost impossible for a U50 and 4500hp turbine to be seen operating together.
 
bnsf971 said:
Actually, they ran on the traded-in frames and complete running gear, not just the trucks. With that in mind, it would be almost impossible for a U50 and 4500hp turbine to be seen operating together.
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so they ran together transposed :p:p:p:p
 
That year of overlap assures us that somebody thought of it at the very least, and I would think it may have been the case at least once. Who among us can argue otherwise?
 
blackz28 said:
seriously though they could have run with the later turbines althou the chances are slim
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Very slim. I don't recall seeing them M.U.'d with many diesels. I'd have to check my reference books for pictures. The Big Blows pretty much ran alone, occasionally with SD24’s, GP9 etc. The 8500 hp turbines didn't mind the high altitude crossing the divide. The U50's were not finding the high altitudes to their liking. As a result, they spent most of their time on the flatlands of Nebraska and Kansas.

It was not uncommon for the U50’s to run in pairs. Like I said earlier, if we could just get Athearn to produce that DD35 for us, we would have the perfect partner. A U50 sandwich with a DD35 in between would be very tasty.
 
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I say go for it. Its your railroad, and its at least plausible. (as the Mythbusters might say).
 
As I surmised, with a whole year of overlap, somebody had to put them together just once for a good reason, even if just a photo.
 
The one year of overlap referred to was between the baby (4500hp) turbines and the U50’s. The overlap between the 8500 hp turbines and the U50’s was 6 or 7 years. (The U50’s as you recall we're riding on the undercarriage of the 4500hp turbines.):)
 
If you want to run them together, it is your railroad. LOL. If I remember my movie about the turbines. They mostly ran from Cheyenne to Green River, WY. usually with a GP or SD or 2 incase the turbines had problems so they could get the consist into the nearest siding.

Tim
 
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