A Glimpse of the Future - UP DPU in 1994

Union Pacific Westbound Unit Grain Train - Nolin, Oregon, June 1994

Union Pacific Westbound Unit Grain Train - Nolin, Oregon, June 1994

Union Pacific Westbound Unit Grain Train - Nolin, Oregon, June 1994

Union Pacific Westbound Unit Grain Train - Nolin, Oregon, June 1994

Union Pacific Westbound Unit Grain Train - Nolin, Oregon, June 1994

Union Pacific Westbound Unit Grain Train - Nolin, Oregon, June 1994

In 1994, UP was still using manned helpers in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon. I had stopped at Nolin, east of Hinkle, after a trip to the Blues to do some afternoon shooting before hitting I-84 for the long slog back to Portland. DPU was rumored to be in the offing, and UP was still in the process of getting enough locomotives equipped to start using Distributed Power, but I was taken completely by surprise by this train. This a wheat train that almost surely would have been reduced at Nampa, Idaho into two trains. Notice that each set of power has a 9400 in it. These were some of the first units to get DPU. Estimated speed of this train was 45 mph, probably track speed through the sharp curves through Nolin, and a Harriman era bridge over the Umatilla River. A very impressive train, even though it was emblematic of the disturbing  human predilection to eliminate humans from their own economy.