UP F9A 519, a pair of GP9 B-units, and another F9A have just come off the Kansas Division with the overnight freight from Kansas City and in early morning light are passing Denver’s 36th Street yard tower. After several years’ absence from the local scene, by the fall 1968 F-units are again showing up on UP freights into Denver. But the F9s are strangers, onetime 1500-hp F3As rebuilt by EMD to 1750-hp F9 specifications in the late 1950s, renumbered, then reassigned by UP to lines northwest of Salt Lake City. As second-generation diesels have become available, the F9s are moving east, and to the delight of local railfans they are now familiar sights on the Kansas Division. The express cars at the head end are also regulars on this run, perhaps filled with magazines from eastern publishers.
