In years past, when William Wimmer was still the VP of Engineering at Union Pacific, this special always had the DDA40X as power. It was said Mr Wimmer did this for several reasons:
1. The DDA40X itself was sensitive to track alignment and if there was an issue, it created a noticeable rocking motion over the track that went back through the train, making him aware of the issue in the last car.
2. If the train stopped to inspect something, it could start and be back up to 70 MPH within a minute or so.
Whatever his reasons, it was great to see while it last. After Mr Wimmer retired, the new VP of Engineering apparently didn't see the same value in the DDA40X, so those days are gone. Here, an SD70M leads the special east.
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