Union Pacific Passenger Project

A few weeks ago I noted that Bachmann has the new E7s in. My budget has recovered sufficiently from the holidays that I now have one of the Union Pacific versions on order. This brought me to research what else they ran with, because a single passenger unit of any type was pretty unusual on UP.

Bachmann's UP E7 is numbered 989. This unit got that number in 1948 and was traded in to EMD on an E9 in 1963, so this is the period I'm interested in. Photos show UP's E7s on secondary trains MUed with other E's, but also with Erie builts and passenger F3s. As it happens, I have a set of Proto Erie builts lettered for UP, as well as a bunch of old Stewart Kato F3s in UP that I intended to use as passenger units. However, UP's passenger F3s were regeared for freight service and renumbered in 1953, so we're looking at putting my UP E7 in service on my layout as thought it were in the period 1948-1953.

All my Proto UP Erie built B unit needed was a decoder, so this was a pretty easy job. The F3 needed a little more paint and decal work as well as a decoder -- the Stewart locos came without road numbers. I added these from a Microscale diesel set as well as Microscale step plates on the doors. The chicken wire areas also needed dirt and crud. Here's the result:

As long as I had an F3B in work, I pulled out its companion F3A. This got the passenger pilot from Details West and paint and decal work similar to the B unit. UP did not paint locomotive trucks silver until 1956, so this was also something I needed to change on the Stewart units. Judging from photos on the web, the Bachmann E7 will also need to lose its silver trucks to fit in with 1948-53.

The shades of UP yellow don't match between the Stewart and Proto units -- no doubt the Bachmann E7 will be different from either. This doesn't bother me -- decades spent trackside railfanning UP reassure me that this is fully prototypical. I do note the Scalecoat gray on the F3 trucks is darker than what's on the bodies, so I will probably have to finesse this with weathering.