This is one shot I wanted to do with this train in order to duplicate this shot of the CNW Heritage Locomotive I shot here last year under almost identical lighting, and on the same track: http://uptrain.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2672590 .

The other marks against them is that they were Cat engined, didn't always like to start, loaded slow, went through sand quicker than an hourglass factory, and were slippery as hell and the dynamics were weak.

Also, on the conductor's side the floor wasn't raised, and the bottom of the window was probably shoulder level. You felt like a first grader on a school bus when you rode the left side.

They did shoot some sweet flames out the stack sometimes though.

After the engine made the wost possible mechanical noise that I can imagine and seized up, the aftermath continues to flame out. This is from the end of Waldron Avenue.

The new unit, now designated as a SD40M-2 was renumbered to UP 2702 on July 27, 2000. The renumbering was done after a wreck at Lufkin, TX on June 21, 2000, and the unit received its peculiar gray patches as part of the repairs, but was obviously never fully repainted.

It was retired by UP and sold to RailAmerica in May 2012, and assigned to the Missouri & Northern Arkansas as MNA 2702.

After Southern was done it passed to HLCX 3118, CNW 3118, and then SP 8660 on September 21, 1994 at the MK Rail Mountaintop, PA facility, when the unit was rebuilt to Dash-2 specifications and redesignated as a SD40M-2. It was renumbered to UP 2736 on October 19, 2002. The repaint into UP colors came in late 2005. It was retired by UP and sold to RailAmerica in May 2012, and assigned to the Missouri & Northern Arkansas as MNA 2736.

The last time I saw this unit was on March 11, 2007 as a UP unit, trailing behind the MKT Heritage Locomotive, UP 1988 of all things, on a ZYCHOB on the UP Jonesboro Sub. in Southeast Missouri.