In The Cab: Moving Along With UP 9533

UP 9533 is a General Electric (GE) C41-8W. This particular unit was manufactured by GE in 1993, with 4,135 hp, featuring a wide cab, C-trucks, and desktop controls and analog gauges.


Here, there are lower gauges, which control light and cab HVAC systems. The round, red metal piece is activation for the horn via the foot. Engineer's seat is thick, adjustable black vinyl.

Here I am in this GE cab, after having transited quite a number of miles, under direct supervision, on the Roseville Subdivision. Conveniently, I cannot recall the time, the date, the season or the specific details. Suffice to say: it was quite enjoyable. Some scenes have been changed to protect the innocent.


Detail of this early GE desktop unit. After engineers had gotten used to numerous pedestal cab controls on the left, desktops confused them. Before the digital era burgeoned, the analog era beckoned. Reverser handle removed. It was in my pocket when I took the photograph.


Back panel of this early GE desktop unit, to include start/stop switches and breakers. Precursor to desktop displays situated here. This panel sits directly behind the engineer, right side of the cab.


Conductors desk, left side of the cab. Pretty spartan and ridiculously filthy, having seen almost 20 years of continuous use. Emergency brake application, radio microphone, refrigerator down on very lower right adjacent steps to nose of cab. Clear absence of speedometer.


Brake pipe analog gauges. Explanations below. CFM indicator on far right. Sanding switches in blue.


Overall and above view of engineer's seat, right side of GE cab. Fire extinguisher back of seat. Engineers complained, initially, of having to lean over desktop in order to make input to controls. This is before the cabs got really complicated with digital input and readouts.

Whilst I monitor the comings and goings in the area of the Sierra Nevada mountains where I live, I happen -- now and then -- to come upon various trains that have stopped for various and sundry reasons.

Because I tend to be ubiquitous at medium-to-high elevations, I make contact with any number of cab personnel who, mostly, don't wish to be identified. At all.

With that in mind, here I sit in an older UP unit, a GE C41-8W, with 4,135 hp and manufactured between 1990 and 1993. A bit of irony: I'm wearing an EMD hat.

From a stop, after much conversation and commonalities, I was allowed to drive this unit from roughly Emigrant Gap to Sparks. I did so safely and with input and monitoring. This happened sometime between 1998 and 2011. Oddly enough, I forget precisely when the event occurred.

This was an elder but current unit still assigned to the Roseville Subdivision. It is commonly utilized in adjunct but not point power these days, because I've seen it time and again.

Whilst I line up posts for new GE and EMD cab shots, I hope this one will do, with some detail that may satiate my readers for a time.

Thanks to the cab personnel who made contact with me. Some are past and current friends. And thanks to their anonymity. I am not a terrorist. I am just a railfan who happens to have some items in common with the bulk of cab personnel, whether they be UTU or BLET members.

MP154