Photo ID: 113389 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 26, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed BNSF Engine House Denver, CO 7 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots SPTX Not a pair of units I ever expected to see individually in 2025, let alone in a lash-up together! A former Santa Fe SD45-2B and a former Amtrak F40PH are both being moved from California to Iowa. Neither is currently operational, and are being moved "DIC" (Dead-In-Consist). They will be transferred from BNSF to UP here in Denver to continue on to Iowa. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113387 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 26, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed BNSF Engine House Denver, CO 6 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots SPTX A look at the engineer's side...such as it is, considering there is no cab...of this SD45-2B. It was pretty fantastic seeing a unit wearing Santa Fe blue and yellow in 2025. Particularly a unit as unique as this one! These B-units were not built by EMD, but were modifications made by Santa Fe. Santa Fe removed the cabs and created the B-units. A total of eight such B-units were created from SD45-2s. One thing worth noting is that some people confuse a B-unit with a slug. A slug has no prime mover, but still has traction motors with power for the motors supplied by other units in its consist. A B-unit still has its prime mover, but simply has no cab and therefore cannot be controlled unless in an MU-consist with other units. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 113384 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, November 26, 2025 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed BNSF Engine House Denver, CO 6 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots SPTX In the 1970s and 1980s, several railroads had a bit of a fad with B-units. Meaning units without a cab. The units still had a prime mover and traction motors, but could only be controlled when MU'd to other units. Such units are quite rare today, but it just so happened that an SD45-2B was coming through town at BNSF's Engine House today. SPTX 5703 has a bit of a storied history. It was actually originally delivered as a standard SD45-2 (with a cab). In fact, this was the unit that Santa Fe painted in red, white, and blue to celebrate the Bicentennial in 1976. However, in October 1987, Santa Fe converted three SD45-2s into B-units, removing their cabs. ATSF 5703 was one such unit. Note that the dynamic brakes were moved forward to the area where the cab had once been located to help improve cooling. The unit is now owned by a private individual named Noah McCann, and it is reportedly headed to Middletown, IA. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110688 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, July 7, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North Yard Denver, CO 254 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Union Pacific, Southern Pacific There are only five AC4400CWs still on UP's roster that have not received a full UP repaint. UP 6236 is one such example, still in its original scarlet and gray, with yellow UP patches applied. Here, it sits in North Yard awaiting assignment after arriving on the MGJNY. The unit actually served on the Minturn Local (which hasn't gone as far as Minturn in decades) just a few days ago in the Colorado high country. This was originally SP 257. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 110367 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, April 11, 2024 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Arvada to Leyden (MP 7.5 to MP 11.9) Arvada, CO 315 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific Only five units of the original 279 Espee AC4400CW still wear scarlet and gray paint. All five are, of course, patched and now have UP numbers. One of those five units was the first of two DPUs on the tail end of an eastbound loaded oil train. This AC4400CW was originally SP 280. In fact, if you look closely, you can still see the outline of "280" on the cab behind the UP patch. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108907 Date Shot Photo By Friday, November 11, 2022 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East of Pine Bluffs Kimball County, NE 416 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Sidney (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific This was an incredibly lucky catch for the day! A decade ago, patched Espee AC4400CWs were still fairly common. However, over the years, UP has managed to repaint all but three of these units in to full UP yellow. I just happened to coincidentally come across this scarlet and gray unit, serving as a mid-train DPU on an eastbound grain train. This unit was originally SP 264. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108367 Date Shot Photo By Friday, July 17, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 974 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific It has been nearly four years since I've taken a shot of a patched Espee unit. A big reason why? Only four patched AC4400CWs are still on UP's roster! UP has repainted 275 of the original 279 AC4400CWs that were on Espee roster when UP and SP merged in 1996. This was SP 321 when it was originally delivered. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108365 Date Shot Photo By Friday, July 17, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West of Leyden Arvada, CO 1026 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific As the MNYGJ passes by the red "Cold War Horse", we observe a what is becoming an increasingly rare site...a patched Espee AC4400CW! The train is also passing by the neighborhood of Leyden Rock, over to the left. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 108189 Date Shot Photo By Sunday, June 14, 2020 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed North Yard Denver, CO 1124 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Yard Shots Union Pacific, Southern Pacific UP 1996, one of UP’s six heritage units, sits on one of the ready tracks in North Yard on a June afternoon. It is, perhaps, somewhat ironic that exactly 14 years ago that UP 1989, the Rio Grande Heritage Unit, sat a few hundred yards from this location under a tarp, waiting to be unveiled! UP 1996 is, of course, Southern Pacific’s heritage unit. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106196 Date Shot Photo By Friday, September 23, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1370 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific Considering the fact that it has now been 20 years and 10 days since the UP/SP merger became official, it is rather amazing that there are still patched Espee units running around on the system! Yet here is one such as example on an eastbound manifest. This unit, previously SP 310, was patched over 10 years ago, in June 2004. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106159 Date Shot Photo By Friday, September 9, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Chemical (MP 14.5) Arvada, CO 1456 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific A roster shot of this patched Espee AC4400CW seemed appropriate as this picture was taken just two days before the 20th anniversary of the UP/SP merger! So hard to believe it has been so long since SP was no more. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 106114 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, July 23, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP W517 (Speer Jct) Laramie County, WY 1500 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Laramie (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific A pair of AC4400CWs, one of Southern Pacific ancestry, push on the tail end of a load coal train up through Speer Jct. The head end of the train is now on the Greeley Sub and pulling toward Denver. The train is ultimately headed for the Nixon power plant in Colorado Springs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105892 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, March 10, 2016 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed CP DS013 (West Leyden) Arvada, CO 1531 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific SP 355, disguised as UP 6248, brings up the tail end of this eastbound manifest. It is rather impressive that, nearly 20 years after the UP/SP merger, there are still several patched Espee units roaming the rails. Obviously their paint has seen better days, but you cannot completely write off the scarlet and gray quite yet! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105592 Date Shot Photo By Wednesday, September 30, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Coal Creek (MP 23) Arvada, CO 1590 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Union Pacific, Southern Pacific Some morning rays shine through the clouds to the east. A former Espee AC4400CW brings up the rear of the MRONY through the curves at Coal Creek Canyon and Blue Mountain. This unit (ex-SP 328) was patched to UP 6374 on February 9, 2002. Ironically, it has almost spent twice as much time as UP 6374 (with the yellow patch) than it spent as unpatched SP 328! If you look in the top left corner of the picture, you can see the east portal of Tunnel 1. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105398 Date Shot Photo By Thursday, August 6, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Simms Street Arvada, CO 1594 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad Moffat Tunnel (UP) Southern Pacific Despite the funky shadowing, I couldn't pass up posting a roster shot of SP 352! The nose is badly faded, the frame stripe and battery box door are yellow, and the fuel tank has lord only knows what all over it...but it is still an unpatched Espee unit! As of this picture, this is one of only 10 remaining unpatched Espee AC4400CWs. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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