The Altoona Critter UTLX 1032, a vintage 2-axle switcher works Union Tank Car Company in Altoona almost every day despite its age.

Gramps. UTLX 55172, painted for Gramps Oil, sits with other historic equipment at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, CO.

A trio of former Utah Central switchers sit outside the former Union Pacific roundhouse in Evanston, Wyoming, which has been restored to its former glory by the city after serving for years as a t... (more)

GRAMPS
Three-foot gauge tank car UTLX No. 55172 is displayed at the Colorado Railroad Museum at Golden on August 23, 2021. In 1939, 25 frameless standard gauge tank cars of 60,000-pound ... (more)

Visiting a freight car scrapper brings to mind the mythical elephants’ graveyard, as one is surrounded by the massive carcasses of rail cars whose useful lives have ended. Morbidly slicing them... (more)

While looking through my archives, I found this shot from last year's trip out west to see the Big Boy. Right next to the yard where the 4014 was parked was the Evanston Roundhouse. These three GE... (more)

Almost back in its former paint, this former ATSF switcher is seen working cars at the plant on a pleasant sunny evening.

A Critter Keeps Earning

Union Tank Car's Altoona facility keeps an anachronistic piece of power around. While most repair facilities opt solely for a trackmobile these days, UTLX kee... (more)

With the third paint scheme in three years, the Union Tank Car Company uses this switcher here and is not easy to capture on most days as he is tucked in the yard on the company grounds.

Union Tank Car's repair facility in Evanston, Wyoming, has three General Electric switchers to switch cars. UTC 1301 is GE 45-ton locomotive with a dropcab for tight clearances (this is a former m... (more)

What I did on my Summer vacation, redux: A quick pause before continuing up the hump in Selkirk yard.

Loaded oil tankers glint in the last few minutes of a great Spring day. Passing through the Columbia River Gorge, these oil cans will travel through Vancouver, WA, then north on BNSF's Seattle Sub... (more)

This car proudly sits outside the UTLX facility in Marion, Ohio.

The clean up of 18G's derailment included cutting the ends off of the tank cars.

A minor derailment occurred this morning at the east end of the UP yard at West Colton when a section of rail rolled over as cars were passing over it. The work crew is busy getting the tank car ... (more)