OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has pulled 107 locomotives from its surge fleet and added 300 train and engine crews in response to harsh winter weather and derailments that gummed up its system over the past month. “I want to make it clear that the setbacks we’ve experienced are not due to the implementation of […]
Railroad: Union Pacific
Transcontinental Railroad history: the Pacific Railroad Act, US Civil War, and Manifest Destiny
Union Pacific directors pose at the 100th Meridian, 247 miles west of Omaha, Neb. There were still many miles to go to reach Ogden, Utah. Library of Congress collection Many railroads have had their share of drama and intrigue, but it is hard to recall another railroad with the narrative complexity and heroic scale of […]
Steam and diesel on the Union Pacific
June 13, 1950, finds three Fairbanks-Morse H20-44 end-cab road-switchers and 4-8-2 No. 7019 at Union Pacific’s San Bernardino (Calif.) engine house. The F-Ms had taken over Cajon Pass helper chores in 1948. When they were found wanting, UP brought steam back for a spell in 1950–51. Chard Walker photo […]
Union Pacific announces another round of layoffs, closure of Pine Bluff shop NEWSWIRE
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific announced another round of layoffs on Tuesday that affects 700 employees and includes the closure of the locomotive shop in Pine Bluff, Ark. UP has notified the mechanical department that 450 positions will be eliminated across the system this month. In addition, 250 other jobs were eliminated, most of them […]
TV station: UP derailment near Las Vegas dumps about 30 freight cars NEWSWIRE
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Union Pacific has about 30 freight cars to clean up and account for after a Saturday derailment northeast of Las Vegas temporarily closed the line to Salt Lake City. Las Vegas television station KSNV reports that the train derailed early in the morning, Saturday, Feb. 9. The station reported that the […]
UP touts positive train control progress in fourth quarter NEWSWIRE
OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific has installed positive train control equipment on 100 percent of required route miles and implemented the technology on all required passenger train routes. Implementation efforts continue to ensure PTC interoperability with other freight and passenger railroads operating on Union Pacific tracks by 2020, as allowed by federal law. One of […]
‘Big Boy’ passes early pressure test
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific’s Big Boy is another step closer to running this year after it passed a Federally required hydrostatic test. Union Pacific posted a video on YouTube Wednesday showing workers knocking on the locomotive with hammers while pressurized water filled the boiler. One scene shows a pressure gauge at 300 pounds per […]
Prototype drawings of Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive
Click on the image or link to download a PDF of this drawing of the Union Pacific Big Boy In 1941 the Union Pacific RR took delivery of its first 4-8-8-4 single-expansion articulated steam locomotives. Aptly named “Big Boy,” these 7,000 hp, 386-ton locomotives were the heaviest and among the most powerful simple articulateds ever […]
Union Pacific freight train crossing Powder River
Here’s a quick clip of a Union Pacific mixed freight train crossing the Powder River in Natrona County, Wyo. Video submitted by Brian Olson. […]
Union Pacific freight train crossing Powder River
Here’s a quick clip of a Union Pacific mixed freight train crossing the Powder River in Natrona County, Wyo. Video submitted by Brian Olson. […]
Union Pacific to drop low-volume intermodal moves to points on CN, CP, and CSX NEWSWIRE
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific will drop interline intermodal service in 186 low-volume lanes with destinations on Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and CSX Transportation. The changes, announced in late January, are the latest as UP streamlines its intermodal network as it implements its Unified Plan 2020, the new operating plan based on the principles of […]
UP Butler Yard operations in Wisconsin curtailed NEWSWIRE
A switch crew shuffles sand cars at the south end of Butler Yard, March 2015. Trains: Brian Schmidt BUTLER, Wis. – A Union Pacific yard in Milwaukee’s suburbs on former Chicago & North Western tracks is feeling the impact of UP’s adoption of Precision Scheduled Railroading, observers and those close to the yard tell Trains […]