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HAROLD H. CARSTENS (1925-2009)


PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER HENRY R. CARSTENS


VICE PRESIDENT JOHN A. EARLEY EDITOR


E. STEVEN BARRY


ASSOCIATE EDITORS WALTER C. LANKENAU OTTO M. VONDRAK


CONTRIBUTING EDITOR JAMES D. PORTERFIELD


COLUMNISTS THE UP STEAM CREW WAITS FOR A PASSING FREIGHT TRAIN IN SIDNEY, NEBRASKA ON JUNE 30, 2012. PHOTO BY JAMES P. BELL Union Pacific: Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em


RAILFANS OFTEN DEVELOP attachments to specific railroad companies that are similar, in many ways, to how people attach them- selves to specific sports teams. There are some striking parallels between the two phenomena: company-specific fans do all the things sports fans do, such as memorize end- less facts and statistics, wear apparel brand- ed with the colors and logos of their fa- vorites, and vigorously defend every action against criticism by fans of other “teams.” There is also, at times, a prejudice against other railroads that borders on willful igno- rance. It is not untypical to hear a California railfan belittle the railroads of New England as irrelevant, or to hear a midwestern rail- fan describe the South in the same tones normally reserved for Siberia. Provincialism runs hand-in-hand with railfan notions of company loyalty.


Yet there is one company that, from the shoals of Nova Scotia through to Cape Men- docino, commands strong feelings. It does not matter where you live. If you are a rail- fan, you should know the Union Pacific Rail- road. No other railroad casts as long a shad- ow in our realm as does the UP. Operating in 23 states on more than 31,000 miles of track, it’s difficult to find a corner of the in- dustry that is not touched by UP. To follow our sports analogy, the UP is the New York Yankees of the railroad world. For fans there is no middle ground, you ei- ther love the UP, or you hate them. There are people whom I have met that have made it their life’s work to annoy the UP, and to cast aspersions upon them in every corner if the Internet and from the back row of every basement slideshow. There are, as well, devotees who collect anything related to the UP, up to and including comemorative china cups and baseball cards and snow globes. Why such strong feelings? Chalk it up to pride. There is, I would argue, no company prouder of its identity than is the UP. Other companies have special executive trains or comemorative paint schemes, but no compa-


4 NOVEMBER 2012 • RAILFAN.COM


ny — not even Norfolk Southern with its re- cent heritage diesel program — holds a can- dle to the corporate pride that UP exhibits. The company has emblazoned its yellow paint and its red, white, and blue shield logo across the continent for generations. Much of this is a matter of heritage and cultural inheritance. While many other rail- roads talk about their histories, the Union Pacific is one of the only railroads that can claim an unbroken identity dating to the Civil War. Think about that for a moment: Abraham Lincoln knew this company by the same name as you do today. The company is keenly aware of this, and aware, moreover, that it was one half of the continent's first transcontinental rail line. As much as its longevity has made it a darling of Wall Street, its heritage has become an integral part of its corporate culture and marketing. It may be no surprise, then, that UP has


the most extensive corporate heritage pro- gram in the industry. As you’ll read starting on page 26, UP owns not one but two oper- ating steam locomotives, and sends them throughout its vast network with regularity as ambassadors of the company. In addition, they maintain a fleet of passenger cars, a set of beautiful EMD E9 streamline diesel loco- motives, a corporate museum, and a vast historic archive.


Pride can sometimes be misread as arro-


gance, but consider for a moment the eco- nomic equation. There is no bottom-line math here. The steam-powered beasts, the sleek E-units, and all the rest serve no utili- tarian purpose. They exist as embodiments of the company’s awareness of its place in history. But they also exist for us. Their en- tire purpose is to spread good will, to cause joy. Who can find fault in that?


Alexander B. Craghead is a writer, photog- rapher,


watercolorist, and self-described “transportation geek” from Portland, Ore. You can reach out to Alex on our web site at www.railfan.com/departures.


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