The Big Boy of Diesels.. the DDA40X (download link)
I have made several conversions of this one in the past and never released it. After Putting this one off for years, I am finally happy enough with a DDX40 that I will release it.
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DDA40x with new sounds.
Working D-D Bogies
Model by Auran.
Known bugs:
She is Big.. So.. she clips. (not as bad as you might think though)
I set the date to match the last freight revenue run, even though one still survives in the UP heritage fleet for special events.
perhaps one day I'll release that "one" in a "special set"
(damn is she big, I think they will need a can opener to get it out of the station.)
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Builder: General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
Build date: June 1969 – September 1971
Total production: 47
AAR wheel arr.: D-D
Gauge: 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
Wheelbase Between truck centers: 65 ft (19.81 m)
Truck wheelbase: 17 ft 1.5 in (5.22 m)
Length: 98 ft 5 in (30 m)
Width: 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m)
Height cab roof: 14 ft 11.375 in (4.56 m)
overall: 16 ft 4 in (4.98 m)
Total weight: 545,500 lb (247,400 kg)
Fuel capacity: 8,230 US gallons (31,154 L)
Prime mover: 2 × EMD 645E3A
Aspiration: turbocharged
Cylinders: V16
Power output: 6600 hp (4,900 kW)
Safety systems: Leslie Supertyfon model S5TRRO or S3LR horns
Career: Union Pacific
Nicknames: "Centennial"
Delivered: 6900-6924: June–December 1969
6925-6946: June–September 1971
Disposition: 1 in service, 12 preserved, 34 withdrawn
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Union Pacific's DDA40X Centennial Locomotives
by Don Strack
(This article is an edited version of the original text used as part of an article published in Diesel Era, Volume 13, Number 6 (November/December 2002) borrowed from utahrails.net
Union Pacific's Centennial locomotives were the largest railroad locomotive in the world. These distinctive giants dominated the railroad's western mainlines from 1970 through early 1980, and were seen on all of the railroad's most important trains. Built as a unique-to-UP design, they were constructed by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors Corporation.
Numbered as UP 6900-6946, they were known as "Centennial" locomotives because the initial deliveries started on the 100th anniversary of the May 10th 1869 driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah. UP 6900 was rushed to completion to allow it to be part of the various ceremonies that took place in Utah on May 10th 1969. Delivery of the rest of the units began a month later and continued until September 1971. The 6900s were delivered in two groups: UP 6900-6924 (delivered in June to December 1969), and UP 6925-6946 (delivered in June 1970 to September 1971). The two groups were identical except for some very minor differences.
These 47 locomotives were the longest diesel locomotives ever built, at 98 feet, 5 inches. Their frames were too long for EMD to manufacture and were fabricated by the John Mohr Company of Chicago. Their fuel tanks were also the largest of any diesel locomotive, with a capacity of 8,000 gallons of diesel fuel, making the fuel tank weigh 30 tons fully loaded.
Quest for Larger Power
The Centennials were the final example of Union Pacific's search for the ideal locomotive. This search stems from the steam days in the mid 1930s when the first high-speed 4-6-6-4 Challengers arrived. It continued through the years of the Big Boy 4-8-8-4 steam locomotives, and the years of the Standard, Veranda, and Big Blow gas turbines. The search continued during the diesel era with the DD35s, DDA35s, U50s, and Century 855s of the mid 1960s.
Beginning in late 1967 the road pursued a study of its motive power design needs. In the mean time, in March 1968, and as a stopgap measure, UP tried EMD's SD45 as a high-horsepower, high-speed locomotive, but with limited success. By that time in early 1968, the road had a better picture in mind of what it needed for high-speed, over-the-road motive power and was looking for more big power. Coincidently, EMD was itself looking to integrate some new reliability features into a new locomotive design. The DDA40X Centennials were the result of a collaboration between the railroad and the builder.
Within 13 months of the initial March 1968 communication, the railroad and the builder had worked out a definitive design and the first unit was delivered in late April 1969. The new locomotive was much different in its design. Although in concept it was an improved version of the earlier DDA35, which itself was a version of the initial DD35 booster unit with a cab. From the very start, the DDA40X design was conceived and executed to be as maintenance-free as possible, but still deliver maximum horsepower output. EMD applied the DDA40X model to these units because they were experimental (denoted by the X in the model designation) and were essentially a design built to test many of the features that the builder would later use in its Dash 2 line, beginning in 1972. The most important features included self-loading and electrical control modules.
In a September 1969 speech before the annual meeting of the Locomotive Maintenance Officers Association, David S. Neuhart, UP's top mechanical officer (Title: Superintendent of Motive Power and Machinery) counted off 14 points of design improvements. First on the list was self-loading, a new feature first applied to the Centennials that allowed maintenance forces anywhere, with the flip of a single switch, to load check a unit without the need of a trackside load box. This feature was later used in January 1972 with EMD's new Dash 2 line, and is a feature that remains part of every design from EMD since then.
Another feature that found its way into the Dash 2 line following a test on the Centennials, was the modularized control circuits, which made troubleshooting considerably easier. Other list items included improved electrical control, improved mechanical features, an integral frame and 8230-gallon fuel tank, stronger pilot design, heated windshields, unitized air brake components, and a hand brake located in the cab interior.
Locomotive historians Jerry Moyers and Jim Boyd further describe UP's Centennial locomotive: "The unit was to pack two 16-cylinder 645E3A engines driving alternators for 6600 h.p. (marking the first horsepower increase for the basic 645) within a 98'-5" carbody in hood unit configuration, but sporting a wide cowl nose similar to the FP45. Weighing in at 270 tons, the DDA40X was labeled as 'The World's Largest and Most powerful Diesel Electric Locomotive'."
All of the Centennial units were equipped to operate at 90 miles per hour, using EMD's standard high speed 59:18 gear ratio. They were also classified as having pilot snow plows, although the definition was a bit loosely applied; the units only had angled, vertical pilot plates, and were not equipped with formal snowplows, such as many of UP's other road units.
The 6900 class averaged 22,000 in-service miles per month. Such high mileage also required high maintenance. Within five years, with most of the units in the class had racked up over 1,000,000 miles. In March 1976, UP initiated what it called a "Fail-Free" program because of the high miles these units had seen after five to six years of high mileage service. The program was meant to improve the units' reliability and was completed in April 1977 by the shop forces at Omaha, Neb., and included reconditioned electrical components, main generators, engines, and traction motors. Another "Fail-Free" program was begun in late 1978.
In service, the Centennials were usually used on UP's high-speed, mainline, fast freights. At times, they were likely also used on the secondary freights, and even on some of the heavier "locals", which usually had all types of UP's heavier motive power. One report from Pocatello shows that on at least three occasions in 1979 and 1980, Centennials were used on locals between Idaho Falls and Pocatello. On one occasion, the "Roberts Local" between Pocatello and Idaho Falls made use of what railfans call a "Fast Forty Sandwich", meaning two Centennials back to back, with an 8000-class SD40-2H between them. This Roberts Local was usually quite heavy, since it gathered potatoes from the various warehouses every night, and moved them to Pocatello for classification.
In a story told to the readers of Trainorders.com on August 26, 2004, "Rob L." related some operational details of UP's Centennial DDA40X units:
The Centennials were all equipped with experimental "advance excitation" of the traction motor fields. They could get a forwarder train up to speed faster than anything on the rails. I remember Jack Bowen, UP General Superintendent of Transportation, stating in a staff meeting that substituting any other power for Centennials on the North Platte - Ogden segment of the Overland Mail train would require adding 45 minutes to the schedule (just because of the time difference accelerating out of terminals, restrictive curves and slow orders). I also recall that in the early 70s, UP would regularly add a unit in Pocatello to the 2 Centennials that brought WB forwarder trains out of North Platte. (Another unit was needed for tractive effort to get over the steep grades on the Northwestern District. A similar policy was adopted for South Central District hot trains west of SLC.) The extra unit was often added on the point. When these trains started up, one could see and hear the Centennials bump the leading unit. The walk-over plates on the extra units (typically GP30s, GP35s, GP40s, or SD40-2s) were always dented in because the Centennials would be pushing them along whenever the power was accelerating. By 1975, UP was powering the forwarder trains with 3 Centennials (one LA RT started getting four) instead of with mixed units, just because any other power could not keep up with the Centennials. In the late 70s, when "Big Mac" lash-ups (2 Centennials bracketing a high-geared "fast forty" SD40-2) became the norm, I bet they still could not quite match the same running times as the previous all-Centennial lash-ups, even at the same HPT.
After a decade of non-stop operation in the most demanding high-speed freight service imaginable, it's little wonder they started to fall apart. (How many millions of miles did they accumulate? Wasn't it some record rate of accumulation for freight power?)
UP easily got its money out of these units and then some. Despite longer-mileage routes to the PNW than BN and to LA than ATSF, UP walked away with the lion's share of the merchandise and other time-sensitive businesses.
Retirements
Only two units were retired during regular service, both due to wreck damage. UP 6903 was wrecked on Cajon Pass in southern California on April 6, 1974. After the wreck, the unit was moved to UP's Salt Lake City shops and stripped of any usable parts. The remaining frame, along with the unusable components shipped in gondolas, was sold for scrap in June 1974 to the Purdy Company at Lakepoint, Utah. UP 6921 was wrecked on August 27, 1978 at Point of Rocks, Wyo. It too was moved to Salt Lake City, where during September 1978, the usable parts were removed. The frame was finally sold in February 1979 for scrap to the Durbano Company at Ogden, Utah.
Removed From Service
The high maintenance costs due to these unique units' high mileage was their downfall with the severe business downturn in 1980. Many of the units had accumulated as much as 2.2 million miles. The newest units were only nine years old, and the oldest were 11 years old. UP had hundreds of much newer and more reliable SD40-2s to use on its trains, so the 6900s were soon removed from service. (Rumors among the rail enthusiast community, and among the railroad's employees was that because each Centennial had two diesel engines, when one diesel was out of service, the power of the other engine was idle and therefore wasted - but this was never a consideration for whether or not the units were sidelined.)
The combination of newer, more reliable units, along with the improved technology on those same new units (SD40-2s from General Motors, and C30-7s from general Electric), were what caused these "double-diesel" units to be retired. Also, there was a growing concern about frame cracks. The fuel tank was integral with the frame and the frames began showing signs of stress-cracking at full fuel load of over 8,000 gallons. A review of photos will reveal a vertical brace between the side sill and the fuel tank from the early 1970s on, an attempt to control the flexing on the long frames/fuel tanks. Another concern was that UP's run-through partners flatly refused accepting the Centennials on their railroads.
During May 1980, after barely a decade of service, 25 units were placed into storage at Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha, with 12 more being stored at North Platte, Neb. Within a couple months, the other eight most recently rebuilt units were stored at Salt Lake City. By August 1980, reports in the railfan press indicated that all 45 remaining units (minus wrecked 6903 and 6921) were out of service and in storage.
According to information gleaned from UP's COIN computer system, on June 22, 1980, the following 23 Centennials were stored: 6900, 6904, 6907, 6910-6916, 6918-6922, 6924, 6926, 6928, 6929, 6934, 6939, 6943, 6944. A trace from July 3, 1980 shows that 6905 was stored at North Platte after arriving June 22nd on the SLNP-21, and 6937 was shown at Los Angeles since June 1st. UP 6936 had been at Council Bluffs since June 14. A similar trace dated August 30, 1980 showed the following eight Centennials still in service: 6902, 6909, 6925, 6930, 6932, 6938, 6942, and 6946.
UP 6901, 6908, 6917, 6923, 6927, 6931, 6933, 6935, 6940, 6941, and 6945 were all shown as stored at North Platte after their final runs in the July 8 to July 20 time frame, with UP 6935 being the last of the 11 units to arrive at North Platte, on July 20. Some may have made additional runs later in July or August, but no records remain that show them in service. Another trace dated October 13, 1980 showed just eight units still in service: 6902, 6909, 6925, 6930, 6932, 6938, 6942, and 6946.
In October 1980, reports in the railfan press showed that the 37 units stored across the system were moved to Las Vegas, Nev. But a trace dated January 15, 1981, showed the same eight units still in service: 6902, 6909, 6925, 6930, 6932, 6938, 6942, and 6946, along with a reactivated 6908. Additional information from late February 1981 showed that the last of these nine remaining units ran on February 20, 1981, although the specific road number was not recorded. The last nine units were sent to Salt Lake City (and later, Ogden) for storage, where they remained for another year. In January and February 1982, the remaining 45 units (36 units at Las Vegas and the nine units at Salt Lake City and Ogden) were gathered together and moved to Yermo, Calif., where they would remain for another two years.
In 1982, with all 45 remaining units in storage, UP tried to negotiate a deal with EMD to use the 6900s as trade-in on additional SD40-2s, but an agreement couldn't be reached.
In April and May 1983, with all of the units in storage at Yermo, UP began removing the Coded Cab Signal (CCS) equipment from the 6900s to allow the equipment to be shipped to C&NW for installation in C&NW SD40-2s and GP50s. This would bring to an end the practice of using UP pilot units on C&NW run-through trains from Fremont to North Platte, Neb.
In late 1983, the economic recession of the early 1980s was slowly coming to an end, and rail traffic was increasing. UP soon found itself holding trains for want of locomotives to pull them. With the slow increase of business, UP again approached EMD with a potential order for SD40-2s, but by this time EMD was only offering SD50s and GP50s. UP had borrowed GP50s from C&NW and SD50s from other roads and had not been impressed with their performance. Also, EMD couldn't make delivery for at least several months. (The post merger, and still independent Missouri Pacific received SD50s in November and December 1984). Since the Centennial units couldn't be traded to EMD, UP then looked at returning them to regular service, especially those that were either in good condition, or that could rapidly be brought up to good condition.
Return To Service
In early September 1983 UP began moving some of the 6900s to Salt Lake City for removal of the diesel engines, which were then installed into UP's high-mileage SD40-2s. As the engine removal program progressed, at a rate of about two to three locomotives per week, many of the 6900s were found to be in better shape than some of the SD40-2s that were to receive the replacement engines. This new development in the units' condition forced UP to rethink this particular replacement program.
To investigate a return to service for the Centennial fleet, UP 6938 and 6942 were removed from storage in mid-January 1984 to look into a rebuild program for the 6900s to get the locomotives on the road as soon as possible. The rebuild program would be expensive, but still cheaper than new SD50s, and UP would have had to wait several months for new SD50s. In late February 1984 UP began moving 40 of the Centennials out of storage at Yermo to Salt Lake City, and to North Platte, to return them to service. Five serviceable units remained at Yermo: 6920, 6926, 6928, 6939, and 6944. Within a month there were 25 units back in service, including 6902, 6905, 6908, 6910, 6912, 6913, 6914, 6916, 6917, 6918, 6922, 6923, 6924, 6927, 6929, 6930, 6931, 6934, 6935, 6936, 6938, 6941, 6942, 6943, and 6945. In April, the remaining 15 units were found to be unserviceable and were returned to storage: eight (6900, 6901, 6906, 6909, 6925, 6932, 6933, 6937) were returned to Yermo; three (6904, 6907, 6919) were at Salt Lake City; and four (6911, 6915, 6940, 6946) were at Omaha/Council Bluffs. On June 24, 1984, these 15 unserviceable units were retired and stripped of all parts that could be used to keep the 25 operational units running.
Although cabooseless operations began between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles in October 1984, cabooses were still required between Nampa, Idaho and Portland, Ore., until September 1985. Those reactivated Centennials that operated in this district were allowed to lead, but only five Centennials (6902, 6908, 6922, 6935, and 6942) were equipped to work with end-of-train devices and were allowed to lead on the other parts of the railroad.
By late 1984 the traffic surge had played itself out and all 25 operating units were removed from service on December 23, 1984. In the following months, as many as 14 units saw limited service but by early April 1985 all of the remaining 6900s were officially out of service, awaiting retirement and disposition. Reliability remained a problem, with 10 of the units in service during 1985 (6914, 6916, 6917, 6927, 6929, 6930, 6941, 6942, 6943, and 6945) being removed from service specifically because of their record of failures.
The big units were no longer needed because UP was owed horsepower-hours by other roads and was able to use pool power from these other roads, putting the 6900s, and other Priority III units like them into storage. The last 6900s to go into storage were 6902 and 6938, with their last day of operation being on April 16, 1985. UP 6936 was the last operating DDA40X on the railroad. It made its last regular freight trip on May 6, 1985. UP 6936 was officially removed from regular service and was transferred to the heritage fleet at Cheyenne. The unit was used on an excursion train on May 24, 1985. During February 1986 five of the retired units were stored at Salt Lake City (6910, 6918, 6932, 6935, 6941), and four other units were stored at North Platte (6908, 6929, 6943, 6945).
The hope that the units would be saved from the scrap line was graphically shown by a somewhat artistic railfan in Salt Lake City when he used spray paint to ask Union Pacific, on several highway viaduct pillars near UP's North Yard, to "Save the Whales, Save the 6900s". Of the 47 Union Pacific 6900 class DDA40Xs built, 14 units are known to still exist. Twelve units have been officially preserved. A 13th unit, or rather the hulk of a 13th unit, sits forlornly in Chamberlain, S.D. on the Dakota Southern Railroad. The 14th unit, UP 6936, remains in service.
Following is a story of how UP 6936 was the one saved, as related to the readers of Trainorders.com by John Bromley on August 26, 2004:
How the 6936 was saved
Whenever I think of the 6936, I think of Bob Sullivan, the man who surprisingly saved it. During the short-lived return of the Centennials in the early 80s after they had been stored for some time, Bob was on the power desk in what we called "Operations Control" in the old Omaha hq building. This was way before the Harriman Dispatching Center was built. I received a lot of railfan calls about them, so I would occasionally call Bob for their whereabouts. He would always b**** about what a bunch of junkers they were and expressed high hopes they would soon return to the deadline where they belonged. Their on-road failures were driving him nuts.
During the Centennial frenzy we agreed to give North Platte railfan Jack Thalkin a ride from North Platte to Cheyenne on the 6922, the unit we planned to donate for display in Cody Park. Jack played a key role in developing railroad displays in North Platte. The 6922 was also noted for the being the unit in the famous "Big Then, Big Now" advertisement showing a Centennial and a Big Boy bursting through a UP shield. The 6922 was also the number of a popular HO model of the Centennials.
I set the ride up for Jack through Bob. We also planned to give a photographer for Video Rails a ride from Cheyenne to Laramie with the same set of power. When Jack and I showed up at the departure yard I was surprised to see not only the 6922 as the leader but two other Centennials as well, trailed by three SD40s on our manifest. Good ol' Bob. If one Centennial was good, three would be even better! Jack was so excited I thought he would run out of tape before we even left Bailey Yard.
On the fast ride west, the dispatcher was trying to pass a hot van train around us, but the van couldn't catch us. Finally the dispatcher told us to slow down so the van could get in front us before we blocked the whole railroad all the way to Cheyenne. Finally I saw the headlight of the van back on track 2 in my mirror. When he got abreast of us, the engineer grabbed the radio and called over, "Jeez, you guys got enough power!?"
Anyway one day after that memorable ride, Bob called me and said he was saving the 6936. It was in the best shape of the bunch left and we had been using it to ferry passenger excursions between Denver and Speer near Cheyenne for Sherman Hill steam excursions. Knowing Bob's opinion of the beasts, I was a little surprised and asked him about it. He seemed almost embarrassed and said, "Gee, we ought to save at least one of them!"
And that's how the 6936 came to fame.
UP 6936 In Service
Fans of the Centennial units became concerned in late 2000 when they learned that last operating Centennial, UP 6936, may be retired. On November 30, 2000, the unit was involved in a tragic grade crossing accident at Vacherie, La., 20 miles north of New Orleans. The accident resulted in the death of a truck driver and of a UP employee who was in the unit's cab. UP 6936 was sent to North Little Rock for evaluation of its wreck damage, and stayed there pending a decision of whether or not it should be repaired, or simply retired and scrapped. Fortunately, the public and shipper relations value of the unit dictated its repair and on May 2, 2001 it was released from the shops. To prevent any more similar accidents, the nose door was slightly modified to improve its safety. The unit also received a smaller version of the newly adopted nose wings that were being applied to UP's wide nose units. UP 6936 was being used regularly at the head of special trains, such as an engineering special that traveled along the railroad's routes in the upper Midwest in August 2002.
Full roster of the 6900 class is here.
Preserved UP Centennial Units (14 units)
Road
Number Notes Date of
Display
6900 Donated to City of Omaha, Neb. November 1986
6901 Donated to City of Pocatello, Idaho; displayed in Ross Park with a steam 2-8-2 and a CA-1 wooden caboose March 1986.
6911 Donated to Mexico Institute of Technology, Mexico City March 1985
6913 Donated to State of Tex., displayed at Texas State Fairgrounds, Dallas, Tex. March 1986
6915 Donated to Southern California Railway & Historical Society, Pomona, Calif., displayed at California State Fairgrounds, Pomona, Calif., adjacent to UP 4-8-8-4 4014. July 1987
6916 Donated to Ogden Union Station, Ogden, Utah January 1986
6922 Donated to City of North Platte, Neb.; displayed at Cody Park October 1985
6925 Stored at Chamberlain, S.D. on Dakota Southern Railroad; parts missing; not officially preserved April 1987
6930 Donated to Smoky Hill Railway & Historical Society, Shawnee Mission, Kansas; traded to Illinois Railway Museum in exchange for former Wabash coaches August 1985
6930 Illinois Railway Museum October 1991
6936 Last operating UP DDA40X, still in service, used for special trains.
6938 On display at Jenks Shops, North Little Rock, Ark. November 1989
6944 Donated to National Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, Mo. August 1984
6946 Donated to Feather River Rail Society, Portola, Calif. August 1984
I love this locomotive. How about a Big Boy next?
to use them in an existing save game (starting 2000, few years in play), when I built the first one and let it run my first reaction was "aircraft engine". After five minutes, I was absolutely in love with the awesome roaring, and all my 11 trains are now being drawn by a Centennial. It's very expensive compared to other engines, but worth every penny 
