Union Pacific GP38-2s #1035 & #1034 at Albany, Oregon, on August 22, 2006

On August 22, 2006, I photographed this southbound Union Pacific freight train from my car on Interstate 5 at Albany, Oregon, powered by Union Pacific 2,000-horsepower GP38-2s #1035 & #1034. These two locomotives were originally built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in May 1966 as 3,000-horsepower GP40 locomotives for the Seaboard Air Line. Union Pacific #1035 was originally Seaboard Air Line #602 and Union Pacific #1034 was originally Seaboard Air Line #613. On July 1, 1967, the Seaboard Air Line merged with the Atlantic Coast Line to form the Seaboard Coast Line. Seaboard Air Line locomotives #602 & #613 became Seaboard Coast Line locomotives #1517 & #1528. On December 29, 1982, the Seaboard Coast Line merged with the Louisville & Nashville to form the Seaboard System Railroad, and the locomotives became Seaboard System #6674 & #6684. On July 1, 1986, the Seaboard System Railroad became CSX Transportation, and the locomotives became CSX #6674 & #6684. Retired by CSX, the locomotives joined the VMV Enterprises lease fleet by 1988, becoming VMVX #6673 and #6684. On January 19, 1989, Union Pacific leased the locomotives as part of a group of 34 from Helm Financial, and these two locomotives became Union Pacific #858 & #857. In 1998 they were returned to Helm Financial and rebuilt by Boise Locomotive Corporation into GP38-2 locomotives, though they retain the three radiator fans of a GP40. The former Union Pacific #857 was again leased to Union Pacific as #2534 on July 30, 1998, and the former Union Pacific #858 was again leased to Union Pacific as #2535 on August 14, 1998. Union Pacific #2534 was renumbered to #1034 on July 27, 2001, and Union Pacific #2535 was renumbered to #1035 on August 21, 2001.