Some of my 1st trips by myself as a young lad was to the CNW East-West main thru Iowa back in 1993. This route has always been well known for the ATC signal territory. The ATC meant that only a CNW or now days an UP motor could lead on trains. With the coming PTC changes on all railroads, photos like this wont be a big deal. Today though was kind of cool to see something lead a UP train across Iowa other than a UP unit. Yeah it is just a BNSF coal train, but I only remember Metra E-units leading detouring Amtrak back in 1993, as the only non-UP type motors leading trains out here. So it was strange today to see a BNSF detour charging west on the UP mainline without a single UP motor to be found. Somehow the UP got a wavier from the FRA for these moves to run non-ATC. I would have to really dig back in my photos, but I think this might of been my 1st non-UP leader out here in 26 years!
