The morning of Saturday June 27th looked like a good time to check out the UP Baird Sub as two eastbound trains were supposed to be led by unpatched Cotton Belt units. With David and Terry from Indiana along for the fun we drove to the east switch at Iona shortly after 7:00am. We knew we had not missed anything recently as the MFWWC was stalled half way up the grade out of Fort Worth with one of the two DPU’s dead and a unit up front not loading properly. An eastbound train was in the siding at Iona and there was talk of using its power to pull the MFWWC up to between the switches, but then then officials on the scene got the DPU back on line, and at 7:20am the UP 5868 West roared past the east end of Iona under its own power. Check out the paper number board!
The SD70M trailing the lead Gevo was not loading fully, and the SW1500 behind them was DIC (Dead-In-Consist).
When the two DPU’s came by a few minutes later they were both pushing hard.
The MFWWC headed on west with the intention of stopping at Aledo so the mechanical department could examine the SD70M up front. The eastbound in the siding was told to wait for another westbound train that was already out of Fort Worth.
