It appears that the Unkle Pete likes to run at least a pair of GP40’s as the local, and I am assuming that they are based out of Tucson, though they might be closer. I get down to the Sunset Route ironicaly, in the morning, right after dropping the girls off at school, and before it gets too hot (Today, Sept 21, 2010, it was 89*F (31*C) before 8:00am). The Unkle Pete uses UP 1499 (ex SP 7121, ex CSXT 6751, ex SBD 6751, ex SCL 1596, Built as SCL GP40; rebuilt by M-K as SP 7121 GP40M-2 on 6/14/91; to UP 1499 on 10/16/01) and 1369 (can’t find info on this unit, can’t seem to locate it in rosters or images on the web, but I have shots!). The first 4 images were taken on the west end of Casa Grande on 8/17/2010 as different covered hoppers were moved around, CEMEX is closed, and I assume that they are full of plastic pellets (or just emptied)
Today, I took this shot of them pushing 2 hoppers into Arizona Grain…I know, only 1499 and one hopper is visible. AZ Grain has had a HUGE reduction of hoppers in it’s yard, there were 3 before the UP crew showed up. I noticed that there are STOP signs at each of the streets that cross the main and the siding that the Geeps stopped at, and the local did not blow it’s horns as it crossed, I had little time to take pictures as I was driving…more detail shots later.
In the past 10 years I’ve seen everything from GP38-2s to Gp40-2s to Gp60s to even an ex SD45 SD40M-2 and SD60 assigned to the Casa Grande local. There was even a number of DRGW geeps popping in and out back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Casa Grande local has been a “poor cousin” for as long as I can remember. Bad for the crews, great for us modelers… ;- )
Tom F