M-10002

The M-10002 at Cheyenne, Wyoming, March 7, 1937. The train's regular second power car is replaced by a power car from the M-10003 through M-10006 series. Note how it is higher and of a different profile.

The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10002 was a diesel-electric streamliner train built in 1936 by Pullman-Standard with a prime mover from the Winton engine division of General Motors Corporation and General Electric generator, control equipment and traction motors. It was the UP's third streamliner, and the last turret-cab streamliner.

The original order was for two 1200 hp power cars, M-10002 and M-10003, of the same design as M-10001. However, the demands of Chicago-to-coast service led UP to expand the consists from six to nine cars and seek more power for the larger trainsets. The power of M-10002 was increased by adding a booster unit using the 900 hp motor that had been removed from M-10001 when it was rebuilt prior to entering regular service. The order for M-10003 was cancelled and the order number was used for one of the four more powerful locomotive sets built after M-10002.

The cab unit was fitted with a 1,200 hp (890 kW) V16 Winton 201-A diesel engine and booster was equipped with a 900 hp (670 kW) V12 Winton 201-A motor. The cab and booster units were articulated together with a span bolster, giving them an effective wheel arrangement of B-B+B-B, but they were not articulated with the train and therefore formed the Union Pacific's first separable diesel locomotive. M-10002 was the first cab/booster locomotive set in service,^[1] followed by the automotive-styled M-1000x cab/booster locomotives and the new Denver Zephyr locomotives in the following months.

The train was of nine passenger cars plus the two power cars, making it at eleven cars the longest streamliner trainset yet introduced.

It entered service as the City of Los Angeles on May 15, 1936, the day after the Santa Fe Railroad introduced their first non-streamlined diesel-hauled, heavyweight Super Chief on their competing Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California route.

After the introduction of a full-sized train powered by the new EMC E2 locomotive as the City of Los Angeles in December 1937, the train was reassigned to the City of Portland to replace the M-10001. In July 1941, the train was placed in storage after it was replaced on that route with a train consisting of the former M-10004 cars powered by an EMC E3 locomotive set. After donating some sleeper cars to the new City of Portland train, a shortened version of the train was reactivated in April 1942 to operate a Portland-Seattle connection. It was withdrawn for the second and final time in May 1943, when the remaining passenger cars were removed. The power cars were eventually sold to Northrup-Hendy for gas turbine train testing in December 1946; they went for scrap in 1947.

M-10002 remained the longest in Chicago-to-west-coast service among the original fleet of Union Pacific streamliner locomotives, just over five years.

References

1. The original Super Chief locomotive set consisted of twin cab units.

• Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, WI. ISBN 0-89024-026-4.
• Strack, Don. (2001) Union Pacific Diesel Story, 1934-1982, Part I. Retrieved on December 25, 2004.
• Kratville, William W., and Ranks, Harold E., The Union Pacific Streamliners, 1974