Union Pacific 6916 is a

DDA40X The EMD DDA40X is a 6,600 hp (4,943 kW) AAR wheel arrangement#D-D, D-D locomotive, built by Electro-Motive Diesel, EMD from 1969 to 1971 exclusively for the Union Pacific Railroad. It is the most powerful diesel locomotive#Diesel–el ...

diesel locomotive built for the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

. It now resides in the Eccles Rail Center at the

Utah State Railroad Museum Union Station, also known as Ogden Union Station, is a train station in Ogden, Utah, United States, at the west end of Historic 25th Street, just south of Ogden Central station (previously known as the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center). Formerl ...

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

History

Union Pacific 6916 is one of 47 DDA40X locomotives built. The DDA40X was nicknamed "Centennial" after the 100th anniversary of the driving of the

Golden Spike The golden spike (also known as the last spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-Carat (purity), karat gold final Rail spike, spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting t ...

in 1869, which signified the completion of the

Transcontinental Railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous rail transport, railroad trackage that crosses a continent, continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks may be via the Ra ...

. They are unique in that they are actually two power units on a single frame, and are noted as being the largest diesel locomotives in the world. The locomotives weighed and utilized two EMD 645E3A V-16 diesel engines, each rated at , for a combined rating of . Maximum speed was set at . UP 6916 was built by the

Electro-Motive Division Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motiv ...

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

in November 1969, as one of a series of 47 locomotives of the same type. By June 22, 1980, 6916 was placed in storage due to a decrease in traffic. It was returned to service soon after, but by 1983, most of the DDA40X types were stored out of service in

Yermo, California Yermo ( Spanish for "wilderness" or "wasteland") is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California. It is east of Barstow on Interstate 15, just south of the Calico Mounta ...

. In 1984, a motive power crunch caused Union Pacific to reinstate 25 of the locomotives, including 6916. The locomotive was finally retired from service on May 16, 1985, and internally gutted as a parts source for

SD40 SD40 may refer to: * Canon PowerShot SD40, a digital camera * EMD SD40, a diesel-electric locomotive * South Dakota Highway 40 * SD-40 alcohol, ethanol denatured alcohol, denatured by adding denatonium benzoate * School District 40 New Westminster, ...

and

SD40-2 The EMD SD40-2 is a C-C diesel–electric locomotive built by EMD from 1972 to 1989. The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's '' Dash 2'' series, competing against the GE U30C. Although higher-horsepower locomotives were av ...

diesels. The unit was donated "as is" to the

in 1986. As of 2024, Union Pacific 6916 remains on static display, being one of thirteen surviving Centennials.

In popular culture

*UP 6916 was featured on the cover of the March 1985 issue of ''

Pacific RailNews ''Pacific RailNews'' ''(PRN)'', originally named ''Pacific News'' and later ''RailNews'', was an American monthly magazine about railroads and rail transit, oriented for railfans. It was published from 1961 until 1999. Although its coverage p ...

''. *The unit served as the prototype for an O-scale brass model released by Ajin and imported to the United States by Overland Models, in 1999.

Gallery

File:UP DDA40X.jpg, UP 6916 on display File:Union Pacific 6916 cab.JPG, The cab of the 6916 File:Union Pacific 6916 horn.JPG, Leslie type S3LR 3-chime air horn

References

{{Commons category, Union Pacific 6916 6916 D-D locomotives Electro-Motive Division locomotives Diesel–electric locomotives of the United States Individual locomotives of the United States Standard-gauge locomotives of the United States

History

In popular culture

Gallery

See also

References