Remembering the George Bush Locomotive



My only encounter with the Union Pacific Railroad locomotive painted in Presidential blue and white to commemorate the "George Bush Presidential Library," was on October 31, 2008. The day turned out to be quite an adventure!

Intermodal train KSGAP2 28 (Intermodal, Global Gateway South, American President Lines, Second Section, Date of Departure) left Los Angeles, California October 28, running the Sunset Route to El Paso, Texas and up the Golden State Route to Kansas City, then via trackage rights on competitor BNSF Railway’s Marceline and Chillicothe Subs to the Edelstein Connection where the train returned to home rails (Union Pacific's Peoria Subdivision).

Unfortunately, a wheel slip problem on the UP 1988 (Missouri-Kansas-Texas heritage unit) forced the train to stop at Milepost 145, near North Rice Road, a few miles short of the connection. After assessing the situation, the train crew crept up to the crossing so a BNSF maintenance crew could get to the Katy unit and cut out debris from a gear casing failure, freeing the wheel. The train then limped at 10mph through the crossover and then onto the connection.

UP 4141, UP 1996 and UP 4512 resumed their journey to the Chicago area with 76 platforms. Video starts with the crew setting out UP 1988 at Broadmoor's old elevator track.

- David P. Jordan

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