Big Boy draws big crowds

Large steam locomotive pulling a passenger train around a curve. More of the Big Boy story.

DENVER—In what will most likely be its sole trip of 2022, Union Pacific No. 4014 — Big Boy — is attracting large crowds during a three-day excursion between Cheyenne, Wyo., and Denver. The proceeds from Sunday’s ticketed excursion will support the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Leading a 12-car train, including an […]

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News photo: First EMD in new UP paint scheme

Yellow locomotives on freight train

A second example of Union Pacific’s new paint scheme, the first on an EMD locomotive, is now roaming the railroad. Photographer James Hickey captured SD70ACe No. 8620 leading manifest MNPRO-26 at Buffalo Bend/Point of Rocks, Neb., near the town of Sidney, on July 27, 2022. The new standard paint scheme features a larger UP shield […]

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UP plans major locomotive rebuild program (updated)

Yellow locomotives on train of tank cars

Wabtec will modernize 600 locomotives over a three-year period for Union Pacific in a deal valued at more than $1 billion, the largest such program in railroading history. The Associated Press first reported the agreement on Tuesday evening. The program will include 525 AC4400 and AC6000 locomotives, as well as 75 Dash-9 units which will […]

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Union Pacific redesigns locomotive paint scheme

Yellow and gray locomotive with red trim

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific is making the biggest change to its locomotive paint scheme in more than 20 years. It’s by no means a radical change. The traditional Armour Yellow and gray with red trim remains. But departing is the large American flag decal on the long hood. A smaller flag will be placed […]

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News photos: New look for UP?

Yellow and gray locomotive with red trim

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A new Union Pacific locomotive paint scheme has surfaced, although it is unclear whether the design represents a change, a test, or a one-off for some other purpose. Photographer Bruce Jacobs photographed the ES44AC — a C45ACCTE in UP terminology —in Anaheim on July 18. Differences from the current standard UP scheme […]

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Amazon opens its intermodal network to other shippers

Amazon has begun soliciting business from shippers interested in using space in the company’s fleet of 53-foot intermodal containers. The move, touted in a YouTube video posted this month, puts Amazon in direct competition with intermodal providers such as J.B. Hunt, Hub Group, and the intermodal marketing companies that fill rail-owned containers. “With intermodal for […]

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UP releases schedule for Big Boy trip

BigBoy_Speer_Wrinn

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific has released details of its excursion later this month with Big Boy No. 4014. In a message to members of its Steam Club, the Railroad says the 4-8-8-4 will depart Cheyenne for Denver on Thursday, July 28, at 10 a.m., with an intermediate stop in Greeley, Colo. The locomotive will […]

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Regulators deny California poultry producer’s request for extension of Union Pacific emergency service order

Logo of poultry company Foster Farms

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board on Wednesday denied a California poultry and feed producer’s request for an extension of an emergency service order covering Union Pacific grain trains. Fowler Farms, the largest chicken producer in the West, last week sought a 90-day extension of the emergency service order, which expired on July 17. Thousands […]

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