Union Pacific 7605 – Before & After

My previous post ended with a photo of UP 7605, the DPU on a QWCEW train. Here’s another shot of that DPU eastbound by the old Imperial Sugar mill at Sugar Land, Texas on Jan. 24, 2012.

I noted that UP 7605 seemed familiar to me and left it at that. Here’s the rest of the story…

In early 2007, Union Pacific and General Electric conducted the  “Green Locomotive Technology Tour” to showcase GE’s new Evolution Series locomotives. UP 7605 and 7606, two brand-new ES44AC’s,  were selected to take part in this tour, along with several other locomotives that had new pollution-reducing technology.

UP 7606 was in standard UP  colors, but the 7605 was delivered in a unique GE blue, green and silver paint scheme.

Once the tour was concluded in March, 2007, these two units were released into system-wide service. As you might guess, the 7605 was quite a popular subject for railfan photographers.

I was able to catch up with it twice in the Houston area. Here’s the first shot I was able to get of this unique  locomotive,  shown leading the ILBEW-9 at Missouri City, Texas on April 13, 2007.

Like all good things, it did not last long in this scheme. The 7605 was routed to contract paint shop Mid-America Car in Kansas City in November, emerging in standard UP colors in December, 2007 .