Regarding Q motive power in the mid to late 60's:
I grew up in the Western Nebraska Panhandle town of Potter in the 60's and
70's where the school I attended was literally right across the street from
the Union Pacific mainline with the playground in full view of the tracks.
(Guess how I spent my recesses?!!) It was awesome when a UP train had a major
derailment there in 1967. I got to see a steam-powered derrick at work. What
an education I got!!
But I also remember watching the Q in the towns of Lorenzo, Sidney, Gurley and
Dalton (all about 20 miles to the east of Potter) as a kid in the 60's. I
think I was privileged in that I had access to both the UP east-west mainline
and the north-south Q route (Sterling-Sidney-Alliance). The Q crossed the UP
at Sidney in a cool grade/bridge combination which also crossed US-30. US-385
(north-south) paralleled the Q tracks most of the way through there. I
remember seeing several Q trains and will never forget the first time I saw a
Burlington locomotive. It was a south-bound general freight heading south of
Dalton to Sidney and I was shocked that the diesel locomotives were painted in
something other than Armor Yellow -- RED! As an ignorant kid, I didn't even
know that that was possible! No one ever told me about the CB&Q! Talk about
an awakening! An epiphany! Imagine how I felt when I saw an NE caboose for
the first time on that same train -- cupola forward!! The off-center cupolas
were very perplexing to a UP kid. And cupola foward??? Not even Lionel would
let you do that! I'll never forget that day. lol
Here is what I recall about the motive power, then. I distinctly recall what
I now know to be Q trains pulled by GP-7/9's, or SD-7/9's in black-widow,
mixed among Chinese Red units of the same. I never saw GP's and SD's together
in the same consist. The cabooses were either the tuscan-red-brown
Plattsmouth waycars (cupola forward, of course) of the beautiful silver
NE-types. In the latter part of the 60's, there were mostly a lot of
low-hooded units pulling the consists with the high-hooded units working local
switching jobs. Most mainline power then was assigned to GP-20's and
GP-30's. I don't recall GP-35's at that time, but there probably were a few.
Occasionally, you would see a brace of gray-back F-units. I don't ever recall
seeing GE units. That doesn't mean they weren't there, they just never made
an impression on me if they were. But, I'm pretty certain that the
overwhelming majority (if not all) of the engines were EMD.
About 1966, I believe, I started seeing a lot of pooling power between UP and
the Q. It was very common then to see UP freights going through Potter with
100% Q power (mostly GP-30's) pulling the consists with a Q NE caboose (ok,
Waycar!!!) cupular-forward on the rear. The same was true of the Q line with
consist brackets being 100% UP power and caboose. But it was more common to
see trains pulled by mixed Red and Yellow units - again, mostly GP-30's --
sometimes a Red in the lead and sometimes a Yellow on the point. I even
recall seeing the silver UP CA-9 cabooses. They had me wondering if the UP
was converting to Chinese Red --- as if!
Well, that's my experience in a nut shell. Hope it helps. Please let me know
if you have any questions about any of that.
Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed recalling it.
Val <><
Rick Keil wrote:
> Okay, what would be the usual power in the mid to late 60's for a way
> freight? For example, the grain elevators and other industires along the
> mainline would need pick-ups and set outs, would it be typical for a GP-7,
> 9, or GP-20 to do the work? I know there are probably an example of just
> about everything with maybe only the E units not doing this, just looking
> for typical. Thanks
>
> Rick Keil
> Omaha, NE
>
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