Trains in Vancouver, Washington, and Rainier, Oregon, in June 2002

I took these pictures at the Amtrak depot in Vancouver, Washington, in June 2002.

First, leading a light motive power move to Portland is Burlington Northern Santa Fe #5370 is a 4,400-horsepower Dash 9-44CW that was built by General Electric in December 2000.

In the middle of the consists is Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #809, a 4,000-horsepower Dash 8-40CW that was built by General Electric in June 1992.

Bringing up the rear is Oakway, Inc. #9046, a 3,800-horsepower SD60 built in November 1986. It is one of 100 such locomotives built in late 1986 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, and leased to Oakway, Inc., a subsidiary of Cornell Rice & Sugar. These locomotives were assigned to the Burlington Northern under a “power-by-the-hour” arrangement in which the railroad purchased only the kilowatt-hours of electricity produced by the locomotives while in use.

Arriving with the eastbound Empire Builder, Amtrak #42 is a 4,250-horsepower P42DC built by General Electric in December 1996. It has been repainted in an updated version of Amtrak’s Acela-inspired Phase V paint scheme, with only a single large Amtrak locomotive and a lower-positioned red sill stripe, with the lower blue band removed.

Leading a westbound freight train from the Columbia River Gorge, Burlington Northern Santa Fe #6331 is a 3,000-horsepower SD40-2 that was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in February 1972 as Burlington Northern #6331, part of Burlington Northern’s first order of SD40-2s. Following the merger of the Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe on September 22, 1995, this locomotive became Burlington Northern Santa Fe #6331 on August 11, 2001.

Trailing is Burlington Northern Santa Fe #4416, a 4,400-horsepower Dash 9-44CW that was built by General Electric in April 1999.

Leading a southbound freight train, Union Pacific #7574 is a 6,000-horsepower AC6000CW that was built by General Electric in December 2000. Called a C60AC by Union Pacific, it was among the first units to wear Union Pacific’s new paint scheme with the wings on the nose and the lightning stripe on the sides between the yellow and gray.

The AC6000CW was one product of a mid-1990s horsepower war between General Electric and the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, spurred on by railroads’ desire for 6,000-horsepower locomotives to replace existing 3,000-horsepower locomotives nearing retirement on a two-to-one basis. Powered by a 16-cylinder 7HDL diesel engine developed in a joint venture with Deutz Motoren Werke Mannheim AC (MWM) of Mannheim, Germany, the AC6000CW was introduced in 1995. Ultimately, neither GE nor EMD found success with their 6,000-horsepower models, and the railroads ended up standardizing on locomotives with 4,300-4,400 horsepower. AC6000CW production ended in 2001, with Union Pacific and CSX the only domestic purchasers.

The second unit is Union Pacific #9351, a 4,000-horsepower Dash 8-40C that was built by General Electric in December 1988.

Bringing up the rear is Union Pacific #9547, a 4,135-horsepower Dash 8-41CW that was built by General Electric in November 1993.

Finally, running down the middle of A Street in Rainier, Oregon with an eastbound local freight train on another day, Willamette & Pacific #1802 is a 1,750-horsepower GP9 that was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in July 1956 as Denver & Rio Grande Western #5944. In June 1984 it was retired and sold to Mid-America Car Leasing. It was leased to the Kyle Railroad as their #5944 from July 1984 to December 1986. It was used on the Austin & Northwestern Railroad as #44 from April 1987 to November 1995, where it received the paint scheme shown here. It went to the Central Oregon & Pacific in December 1995, and was sold to the Willamette & Pacific in June 1998. The Portland & Western overtook the Willamette & Pacific in December 2000 but this locomotive retained its Willamette & Pacific lettering and reporting marks. This locomotive would be damaged in a derailment south of Albany, Oregon, in August 2004, and would be scrapped in January 2005. This was the Willamette & Pacific’s second GP9 #1802; the first, a former Southern Pacific GP9E, had been retired in 1995 and scrapped.