Museum Quality HO Scale GE U50C, Union Pacific/As Delivered Early

The Union Pacific has been ubiquitously known for its large locomotives during the late steam era, first generation and early second generation diesel era. During the steam era, there were the 4-12-2 Union Pacific types, the 4-6-6-4 Challengers, and, of course, the 4-8-8-4 Big Boys. During the first generation diesel era, there were the General Electric 4,500 horsepower Standard and Veranda turbines, with their B+B-B+B truck arrangement, then the larger 8,500 horsepower, three-unit Big Blow turbines. During the second-generation diesel era, there were the unique Electro-Motive-built 6900-series Centennial units, with their 6,600 horsepower and just over 98 feet in length. In between the Big Blow gas turbines and the Centennials, there were the EMD DD35s and DDA35s along with their General Electric U50, U50C, and Alco Century 855 siblings.

These big power requirements came at the direction of David S. Neuhart, Superintendent of Motive Power and Machinery. In a motive power study completed in early 1962, the railroad found that the routine maintenance on any single diesel unit amounted to about $7,000 per year, regardless of that unit's size or horsepower. Other tests showed that 15,000 horsepower was needed to move UP's then-current fast freights on its roughly 41-hour schedule over the 1,530-mile route between North Platte, Nebraska, and Los Angeles, California.

With these test results in hand, UP approached the three major locomotive builders, EMD, GE, and Alco, with a specification for a 15,000-horsepower, three-unit locomotive consist. EMD was the only builder willing to build a set of demonstrators that matched the specification without an official order. GE and Alco required an order for the power set to be placed with them to presume the risk of building the prototype.

The requirements Union Pacific took to General Electric called for the prototype locomotives to ride on the twin B+B span bolster trucks from retired 4,500-horsepower Standard and Veranda gas turbines. This running gear had proven to be successful for Union Pacific, which consisted of two span bolsters, each with two motorized four-wheel trucks. The specification also called for each unit to be equipped with two separate diesel engines.

GE’s success with the U25B, of which UP had purchased 16 units, was the starting point for the U50. The U50 locomotive was essentially two U25Bs mounted atop a single, rigid chassis while running on the retired Standard and Veranda GTEL running gear. Happy with the results, UP placed a follow-up order from GE for another 20 units to be delivered from June 1964 to August 1965. UP's 23 U50s remained in service for a total of 14 years, seeing service mainly on UP's eastern, mostly flat mainlines.

Coming along a few years later, UP once again placed another order with GE for a double-diesel locomotive. This time, the locomotive was dubbed the U50C due to numerous design changes in comparison to the original U50. The 40 U50Cs were delivered from November 1969 to November 1971. Numbered 5000-5039, they were built using trade-in trucks from UP's 30 8,500-horsepower Big Blow turbine locomotives.

Changes that were made, when compared to the previous model U50, included replacing the 16-cylinder FDL family engines with 12-cylinder FDL family engines that produced the same combined 5,000 horsepower. The two engines were reversed in their placement from the configuration of the earlier U50 model, putting their radiator sections at the center of the locomotive. The shorter overall unit length forced the fitment of an overhanging design of radiator similar to the one that GE had used on its U33-series locomotives. The earlier U50 had been built without a nose door, which did not allow crew access to or from a front-coupled unit. GE followed the same design for the first 12 U50Cs, but crew complaints brought a nose door to the remaining 28 units, and the first 12 units were retrofitted by the road's Omaha shops with nose doors.

UP 5000 and 5001 were first operated in gray primer paint for several weeks before delivery to UP. Number 5000 operated on GE's Erie, PA test track, and 5001 operated in road service on the Erie Lackawanna. Both units were rushed to completion, leaving the GE factory in October and November 1969, just ahead of a lengthy strike at GE, which lasted until March 1970. Unit 5000 was delivered on November 21, 1969, and 5001 was delivered on October 31, 1969. The remainder of the first order, 5002-5019, was finished starting in March 1970, with 5002 being delivered on April 6, and the others following on a regular schedule thereafter, with 5019 arriving in February 1971. The second order, for units 5020-5039, was delivered between May and November 1971.

Unfortunately, the U50C model was plagued with issues from the beginning. Numerous records indicate the U50Cs suffered from frequent low oil pressure problems in their 12-cylinder engines, along with water leaks and excessive dynamic brake grid failures. However, the most egregious problem with the U50Cs was the fact that they suffered from overheating of the high-voltage cabling, which was made of aluminum as a weight savings measure. Case in point, early in 1975, UP 5012 was the victim of a major high-voltage electrical fire that was the worst of several that plagued the U50Cs. To alleviate the problem, UP considered having Morrison-Knudsen in Boise, Idaho, completely rewire the units using copper cabling, which UP itself had already done to one unit in Salt Lake City. Rewiring was found to be too costly, especially when considering all of the other mechanical problems these units faced, including the aging, cracked truck frames the locomotives rode upon.

With a business downturn in 1976, the operating career of the U50Cs quickly ended, and they were among the first locomotives to be placed into storage, with 22 units being stored at North Platte, Nebraska. Others soon followed, and, by the end of 1976, all of the U50Cs were in storage, with the 18 units at North Platte kept in stored-serviceable status. The remaining 22 units were stored unserviceable at Council Bluffs, Iowa.

While no 5000-class units ever operated in road service again, UP in early 1978 put five back into operating condition and, due to a coal miners' strike, leased them as stationary 3,700-kilowatt electrical power plants. Four went to various Ford Motor Co. assembly plants, and the fifth was used by FMC in Indianapolis, IN. Others were readied for similar service, but the coal strike ended before they could be leased out. The five units that had been leased were soon returned to the storage line at Council Bluffs.

All 40 units were officially removed from service in mid-1976 after just five to seven years of operational road freight service, the shortest service lives of any of Union Pacific's mainline road units. Units 5000-5016 were retired in March 1977, while units 5017-5039 were retired in February 1978. All were sold for scrap to Erman Corp. in Kansas City in May and August of 1977 and in June of 1978.

Before the final U50Cs were delivered in 1971, David S. Neuhart had retired. His successor, Frank Accord, did not share the same “bigger is better” mantra and was more focused on reliability, commonality, and reducing parts inventory in locomotive shop stores. Compounding the reliability issues of the U50C, most railroads with which the UP participated in power pools would not accept these giant locomotives onto their railroads.

With D. S. Neuhart’s retirement, maintenance costs, minimal commonality, and lack of ability to participate in power pools, Union Pacific’s foray into behemoth, double diesel locomotives would come to an end.