Omaha, Neb., June 17, 2021: Union Pacific today announced a “We Are One” summer tour that features a new commemorative locomotive dedicated to diversity and togetherness. The brightly colored locomotive will start its 2021 journey in Houston, Texas, on Juneteenth, the holiday that celebrates freedom and marks the end of slavery in the U.S.

UP No. 1979 is only Union Pacific’s 18th commemorative locomotive. It honors the company’s nine Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and the work they do supporting diversity, inclusion and equality. The unit commemorates the year Union Pacific’s first ERG – the Black Employee Network – was established in 1979.

Introduced in 1992, EMD SD70M was a 4000 horsepower locomotive that ran on EMD’s new steerable truck design, known as the

HTCR-II radial truck. This new truck allowed the locomotive to transfer its power to the rails more efficiently, which in turn enabled two SD70M locomotives to pull a train that would have taken 3 SD40-2’s to pull. The DC brother of the SD70MAC, the SD70M was primarily put to work hauling coal trains due to its high pulling capacity.

Model Information:

These models will be equipped with all-wheel electrical pick-up and blackened metal whee