Always in back, tagging along!

Union Pacific Railroad 142B. Argo Yard Seattle, July 27, 1961. Well, here is another unit destined to be a follower, never a leader! Always hooked up with an "A" unit, the first thing a rail photographer sees in the view finder!

Electro Motive Division manufactured 165 "GP-9B" units for several roads between February 1954 and December 1959.

Union Pacific Railroad purchased 75 of these units, beginning with UP 130B ending with 204B.

"GP-9 B" units were often created following a wreck or other misadventure, sometimes by the railroads own shops. They eliminated the need for control stand electronics and air brake systems, cab seating, and other amenities associated with an "A" unit, excluding a toilet!

The downside was that most railroad photographers shunned the "B" unit, focusing on the "leader" "A" unit, be it cab or, in this case, road switcher "B." However, they failed to acknowledge that you cannot run a "B" unit on the head end of a train!

Railroad Stuff. UP 142B, EMD 567C 1,750 hp, built February 1954, sn: 19218. Weight 122 tons. Sold to Precision National Corp., Mount Vernon, Il., in September 1976; sold to ICG, rebuilt to ICG chopped nose GP10 8304, completed on 25 August 1977; sold to VMV; sold to US Army 4608 in February 1992.

Apparently now in the US Marine Corps! Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow located in Yermo, California.

My roster information is getting a little dated on this unit. If you can provide current information leave a note in the "Comments" section below!