Trains News Wire EXCLUSIVE: UP donates B40-8 to Illinois Railway Museum NEWSWIRE

UNION, Ill. — Union Pacific has donated General Electric B40-8 No. 1848 to the Illinois Railway Museum at Union. Museum volunteers expect to move the unit from the interchange track to the museum grounds late Friday or early Saturday, according to Chief Mechanical Officer Jamie Kolanowski. They hope to have it accessible to the public yet this weekend.

The museum plans to have it running for the annual “Diesel Days” weekend July 19-20. As far as the staff knows, Kolanowski says, the locomotive is complete and operable.

No. 1848 represents the first electronic fuel injection unit in the museum’s collection, according to Kolanowski. It is also the first GE Dash-8 series locomotive to join the collection.

The locomotive’s significance is not lost on UP. “It’s always good that we can provide rail equipment to organizations that can preserve it for the future to show the technological advances in the industry,” UP spokesman Mark Davis tells Trains News Wire.

General Electric built the locomotive in August 1988 as Cotton Belt No. 8049. It was among the last 4-axle units built by GE. It arrived at the museum’s interchange earlier this week.

For more information, go to www.irm.org.