Union Pacific "Quality Manifest" train 1-WCKC-Q-(K)-17 passes through the Hinda Crossovers as it heads east from West Colton CA to Kansas City KS. Still early after the UP's acquisition of the Southern Pacific, the power for this train consists of SP SD40M-2 8694 (ex-VMVX SDP45 6693; ex-Conrail SDP45 6693; née-Erie Lackawanna SDP45 3662), UP SD40-2 3619 and an SP SD45T-2. EMD's SDP45 diesels were built for only three railroads – Great Northern and Southern Pacific for passenger service, and Erie Lackawanna without steam generators for freight service, as the EL wanted the extra fuel capacity the larger frame and fuel tank provided). When EL successor CR disposed of these to VMV, and SP later leased six of them and had them rebuilt in 1993 by Morrison-Knudsen into SD40M-2s, SP rostered a larger fleet of these somewhat rare diesels. (While wearing full SP paint, these 133 M-K SD40M-2 rebuilds – former SD40s, SD45s and SDP45s from a variety of railroads, were leased by the SP and not owned by them outright.) Sadly, on November 10, 2007, two UP crewmen would perish in this locomotive when it rear-ended another train at Bertram CA, on the shore of the Salton Sea. (San Timoteo Canyon, California – March 19, 1997)
