UP 8612 - Ex-Rio Grande 5354 - SD40T-2 - 12th Street Yard

UP 3084, UP 8612, and UP 3068 - 12th Street Yard - St. Louis MO

In the first two photographs, above and below, Union Pacific 3084, Union Pacific 8612, and Union Pacific 3068 sit in Union Pacific's 12th Street Yard, located on the southern edge of downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The three locomotives are getting ready to pull a train east out of the yard toward Gratiot Interlocking. In the foreground of the first photograph, a train is heading west on the TRRA Merchants Subdivision.

UP 3084, UP 8612, and UP 3068 - 12th Street Yard - St. Louis MO

 

UP 8612 - 12th Street Yard - St. Louis, MO

The third photograph, above, is a closer view of former Denver and Rio Grande Western (DRGW) 5354,  patched as Union Pacific 8612.

UP 8612

UP 8612 was built as DRGW 5354 in 1974. The locomotive is an EMD SD40T-2 model. This locomotive model  are commonly referred to as tunnel motors because they were designed to help keep the engine cooler when passing through tunnels out in the Western United States. The intake air vents are at the back of the locomotive, down near the walkway. This helped pull slightly cooler air up through the locomotive and out of the blower vents on the top. Since the time this photograph was taken, UP 8612 has been renumbered as UP 9865, since a new Union Pacific locomotive was number as UP 8612.

I saw this locomotive during my drive into work, and during my lunch break I was able to walk over and capture a few photographs of the locomotive. The lighting was not great, but even in 2005, seeing a locomotive painted in the Rio Grande paint scheme was pretty rare.

Photo taken: July 8, 2005. St. Louis, Missouri.