This old girl began her career as CGW 403 46 years ago this month as a SD40. After what turned out to be a stint on the CGW, it was onto green and yellow paint as CNW 923, later passing to NREX 923, MKCX 9401, and then SP 8626 on February 24, 1995 at MK's Mountaintop, PA shop, after being rebuilt to Dash-2 specifications. The new unit, now designated as a SD40M-2 was renumbered to UP 2702 on July 27, 2000. The renumbering was done after a wreck at Lufkin, TX on June 21, 2000, and the unit received its peculiar gray patches as part of the repairs, but was obviously never fully repainted. It was retired by UP and sold to RailAmerica in May 2012, and assigned to the Missouri & Northern Arkansas as MNA 2702. |