Trains on May 13, 2006

I took these train pictures on May 13, 2006. First, I photographed this southbound Union Pacific freight train near the undercrossing of Portland Road NE in Salem, Oregon. Union Pacific #3576 is a 3,000-horsepower SD40-2 that was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in July 1979.

I photographed this pair of locomotives from my car as I passed Willbridge Yard on NW St. Helens Road in Portland, Oregon. Burlington Northern Santa Fe #8733 is a 3,800-horsepower GP60 that was built by the General Motors Locomotive Group in London, Ontario, in August 1989 as Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #4033. Following the merger of the Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe on September 22, 1995, this locomotive became Burlington Northern Santa Fe #8733 on November 19, 1998. Burlington Northern Santa Fe #8632 is a 4,000-horsepower Dash 8-40B that was built by General Electric in April 1989 as Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #7442. Following the merger of the Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe on September 22, 1995, this locomotive became Burlington Northern Santa Fe #8632 on February 22, 2000, and was repainted in BNSF’s orange and green paint scheme on January 21, 2001.

I took this picture from my car on U.S. Highway 30 in Saint Helens, Oregon. Portland & Western #3006 is a 3,000-horsepower GP40 that was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in January 1967 as Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific #375. This was one of a group of seven GP40s that the Rock Island was rebuilding to Dash 2 standards in its Silvis shops when the railroad went bankrupt and shut down in 1980. Before the shutdown it was completed as GP40u #3002. The last two of the seven were unfinished. Chrome Crankshaft acquired all seven locomotives along with the shop in 1981, and finished the remaining two locomotives. The seven locomotives were sold to Toronto’s GO Transit in 1982. This locomotive became GO Transit #721. As they were not equipped with head-end power generators, they had to operate with HEP cars rebuilt from F-units. In 1994 they were retired and traded in to EMD for new F59PHs. EMD put the locomotives in their lease fleet and this locomotive became EMDX #205. In 2001, EMD transferred the locomotive to Locomotive Leasing Partners (LLPX), a partnership with GATX Leasing, and the locomotive was leased to the St. Lawrence & Atlantic as #3208. St. Lawrence & Atlantic was taken over by Genesee & Wyoming in 2002. The locomotive was transferred to the Portland & Western Railroad in April 2004, where it was considered a GP40-2, even though it lacks all the Dash 2 external spotting features like the water level sight glass, rear cab overhang, and vertical shock absorbers on the trucks. Renumbered to PNWR #3006 in mid-2005, it still wears its St. Lawrence & Atlantic yellow and black paint scheme.