Light power from Union Pacific's Wendover Local squeals through Grant Tower in Salt Lake City the afternoon of Oct. 26, 2013. While digging up the history of the UP 1684, I became aware it has been renumbered numerous times since it was built new for the Union Pacific by EMD in July 1976. it was built as a 'Fast Forty" SD40-2H No. 8046, geared to run with 6900 series 'Centennials' on priority piggyback trains; later renumbered and regeared to UP 3316 in September 1981; repainted (after rebuilding in-kind) as UP 1896, an Atlanta Summer Olympic Games commemorative unit on 7 April 1996; repainted to standard UP yellow and gray and renumbered to UP 3100 on 29 November 1996. It was assigned UP 3097 number in November 2002 to clear the earlier 3100-3102 series for use by renumbered 3700 series, 3800 series (ex MKT), and 3900 series (ex MP) SD40-2s, which in turn cleared the 3700-3900 series for use by new SD70M units. On January 12, 2012 it received its current number when repainted and resealed at the North Little Rock, Arkansas shops becoming an SD40N. A big thanks to Don Strack for his UtahRails.net site and Ron Lehmer's CalCoastRails.com site for making available detailed information regarding the history of this 37 year old SD40-2.
