The UP 60 and 60 B are much rarer than the turbines. These are Century 855s. They mounted a pair of C628 engine/generator pckages on the running gear of a 4500HP turbine, either the full carbody units or the "Verandas". I haven't seen very many shots of a C855 working, so this is more special than one would expect it would be. 60B is the sole example of a C855B, and had a very brief career as a result. 60A is one of only two C855s. their careers were brief as well.
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If I am not mistaken these units are actually ALCO C855's
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Steve,
The trailing units are 2/3 of UP's fleet of Alco C-855's.
You weren't too far from the truth, as these units ride on the span bolsters salvaged from the 4500HP GTEL's.
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Nice to see ALCo's contribution to the UP super deisel program. The stock car is cool, too. Nice to see that RPNet relaxed their ban on going away shots for this one, too!
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As you can tell these are not GE's these ran once together as an A-B-A set when new and suffered a major electrical explosion in the cabinet. It is believed they were wired wrong and when couploed together shorted each other out. So yes to catch two of them together on one train is very rare and very lucky. thanks for charing.
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Great shot. Thank you. A photo documenting both an A and the B in a working consist is an incredible find. As I understand it, the double Alcos quickly garnered a reputation for unreliability, so having 80% of your HP tied up in power you couldn't trust to finish the trip probably didn't make the engineer's day.
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I wish that there were more pictures of these units out there!
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A GP35 leading two C855s, that's a gamble right there. WOW!
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I love how the Burlington SD9 is captured on the bridge to the extreme right of the photo.. Awesome Shot!
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If I remember right the C855's also had a reputation for pulling power (when they were working).
The GE U50's were built to the same UP requirement and had the same axle arrangement underneath, but had a much cleaner appearance. The cab was funny-looking, though.
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They are very ugly.
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