The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10003, M-10004, M-10005, and M-10006 were four identical streamlined diesel-electric power car trainsets delivered in May, June, and July 1936 from Pullman-Standard, with prime movers from the Winton Engine Corporation of General Motors and General Electric generators, control equipment and traction motors. One was for the City of San Francisco, two were for the City of Denver, and one was a spare set intended for both routes. In 1939, M-10004 was split and converted into additional boosters for the other sets, now renumbered CD-05, CD-06, and CD-07, all running on the City of Denver. The M-10001 power car became the other third booster. In this form, the three power sets ran until they were replaced by E8 locomotives in 1953, at which point they were all withdrawn from service and scrapped.
Historical significance The M-10003 through M-10006 represented the final development of the custom streamlined trainset on the Union Pacific. They followed the cab/booster unit concept pioneered with the M-10002 trainset. As totally separable and interchangeable cab/booster power sets, they set the path that EMC was to follow with introduction of their E series locomotive sets the following year. Union Pacific was able to maintain daily service on the Chicago-Denver run for seventeen years by dedicating three locomotive sets to that service and re-purposing power units from M-10001 and M-10004 (three total) to provide additional power and keep at least two of the locomotive sets in running condition at any given time.
Details These power sets had stylistic elements in common with the Illinois Central's Green Diamond trainset, which was completed just previous to them. Abandoning the "turret cab" styling of M-10000 through M-10002, these units adopted a new "automobile design" elevated cab, as with the Green Diamond, behind a longer nose than that of the Diamond. They shared a divided front air intake grille that dominated the nose, edged in shining stainless steel. Beneath, the pilot was edged and barred in stainless steel, very like the Diamond's. The Diamond kept the headlight at the top of the cab, while with these power sets a large headlight tipped the nose. The IC121 Diamond was a single power unit setup with a smaller articulated trainset, and in that regard had more in common with the earlier M-10001. The copious round porthole-style windows on the power units became a "trademark" feature of Union Pacific locomotives for a number of years. The big shiny noses and portholes were imitated in the styling of UP's E2 locomotives from 1937. Each power car had a 1,200 hp V16 Winton 201-A engine, generator, and a pair of two-axle powered trucks. The rear truck of the first power car and the lead truck of the second power car carried a span bolster to which both power cars were articulated, so they made one unified locomotive of B-B+B-B configuration and a total of 2,400 hp (1,800 kW). M-10004 was matched with a trainset of tapered cross-section, low profile articulated cars of the type built for the earlier M-1000x trainsets. The first cars had been built in anticipation of another tapered turret cab locomotive, but Union Pacific decided instead to cancel the proposed turret cab, expand the set to nine cars, and match it with a more powerful locomotive set of the newer design. The lounge car of the M-10004 set was also built with a food preparation facility occupying its blind rear, which was revised with a new layout and porthole style rear windows between the train's City of San Francisco and City of Los Angeles service periods. The M-10005 and M-10006 trainsets were built straight-sided to increase interior space, semi-articulated, and shorter by two sleeper cars than the M-10004 set. All of the M-1000x trainsets were lower profile than standard passenger railcars.
Changes The most significant change to the City of Denver power sets came in 1939, when they were converted from two-car, 2,400 hp sets to three three-car, 3,600 hp (2700 kW) sets using power equipment from M-10001 and M-10004. Other changes included a gyrating signal light installed below the main headlight after the Second World War, the loss of the stainless steel trim on the pilot, the addition of the Chicago and North Western Railway herald to the nose in addition to the Union Pacific one, and changed nose-side badges for the route. The original Armour Yellow and Leaf Brown livery was changed incrementally to the modern livery of Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray roof and base, with red trim striping separating the main colors. That same footage shows two boosters in the power set, indicating service as City of Denver with the expanded M-10003 (CD-07) power set, and an eleven car consist, expanded from the original nine car consist with cars from either the M-10001 or M-10002 set. Slate gray was replaced with Harbor Mist Gray at some point after the mid-1940s. A publicity photo of M-10005 from 1949 shows the trainset with a Harbor Mist Gray roof and a single headlight.
Individual power set histories The demands of long-distance high speed City train service taxed the ability of the M-1000x fleet to meet them. The original 2400 hp power sets with Winton 201A Diesel engines were underpowered for their service requirements and had a short lifespan for mechanical parts, with at best 100,000 miles between piston replacements. These shortcomings led to various measures including equipment replacements, 50% redundancy in locomotives assigned to the Denver run, consolidating the motive power of locomotive sets for a 50% boost in power for the remaining sets, and using a locomotive set built for full-size trains instead of the type originally matched with the trainset.
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