Union Railroad SD38-2 (ex B&LE)

[URR566]

Heres a photo of Union Railroad SD38-2's 53 and 54. This photo was taken by my dad at the Clairton Coke Works in the spring of 2001. These two locomotives were part of a trade in which the Bessemer sent SD38-2's 870, 872, 876, 879, and 890 to the URR, where they were renumbered, in order, as URR 50-54. These locomotives were then used on heavy road trains. Although they could pull very well and had a five for four unit reduction on the mainline they were too big for the URR and were traded to the EJ&E late 2001/early 2002 in exchange for an SD9 and an SD-M. All five of the B&LE units still survive under EJ&E (now CN) ownership.

[URR566]

The other side of URR 53, which is the former Bessemer 879. Behind it is 54 (890). The URR didn't do a whole lot to get these units into service-they removed the Gyralites, ditch lights, FRED brackets from the nose, and all BLE logos and numbers. They added a mirror to the firemans side cab window (visible in the window of 53) and their own logos and numbers to them. The camera flash was on, and it shows how the B&LE applied hash marks are reflective, as well as the URR logo and numbers which are 3M Scotchlite decals. The handrail ends and step edges are fluorescent orange for added visibility.

[URR566]

A couple quick notes on these SD38-2's:

The URR traded these engines in two batches. 50 (870), 52 (876), and 54 (890) went to the EJ&E 11/2001 while 51 (872) and 53 (879) went to the J in 1/2002.

53 retained its Gyralite for a few weeks/months while in operation on the URR.

54 retained its snow plow and was the only URR owned engine to ever have a plow.

[URR566]

Several screenshots from the day the SD38-2's made their first revenue run on 66 Crew. The color is a bit off, the tape is fine my computer did that I could fix it but I don't feel like it. Date is 9/15/00.

[Rick Jones]

Trying to get contact numbers for Transtar!