Railworks America

New MOW equipment:
https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/in ... -08-20.htm

Thanks for the article. Always wondered if they were going to have a more automated way to pick those heavy ties.

That looks much better than the current back breaking method of hand loading a bucket on a front end loader which then dumps them into the gondola.

When the article said ties are shredded for cogeneration fuel I had to look that up.

So the shredded ties are burned which runs a steam turbine and the heat from the process is used to scrub the exhaust emissions. Plus the steam can be used to heat buildings before cycling back into the power plant.

And I wonder what that odd looking locomotive on the consist is. It looks like it is purpose built to be a part of that consist set.

Well after just about three hours of trying to identify the locomotive through picture and roster searches I was about to give up. That's when I spotted what appeared to be a manufacturers plate on the left rear corner. It looked like a stylized "R" or a "R" with some sort of a letter in blue in front of the "R".

Well it turns out it is a Relco Locomotive product built in their shops at Albia, Iowa.


On their Facebook page there is a post that is dated July 23, 2019. It states: "We can’t say THANK YOU enough to all our great employees for their hard work and dedication to complete our first UP Work Train. This project has spanned over two years, and live testing began last Friday. Great Job Everyone"

It also mentions that BNSF donated the unit for the UP to use. It is a SD40-2 with a customer requested body modification to allow for more crew members to ride in the unit. If you look at the top of the locomotive the SD40 fan arrangement is obvious. I still couldn't find a solid answer as to what it's model designation is. However the Road Number is now clearly visible and when a roster including this locomotive is available we will find out.

The company post also alludes to the fact that more of these type will be built.