| Delivered to Erie Lackawanna as SD45M (or SDP45 sans passenger equipment) 3666 in August 1970, this diesel became Conrail 6697 in 1976 then spent several years in storage after being returned to its lessor in January 1984. VMV purchased this unit for lease service as VMVX 6697 until purchased again by Morrison-Knudsen rebuilding it as SP 8693 SD40M-2 in January 1995 still sporting the long hood extension but a 16 cylinder 645. After the Union Pacific merger this unit was initially assigned UP 4719 but never received this number and was instead patched UP 2769 on December 15, 2003. On October 12, 2010 this unit was retired and has spent the last several years languishing in storage at Webb City, MO. In this photo SP 8693 is leading a freight out of UP Centennial Yard (now Davidson) five months before merger day. |