| Acadiana Railway GP30 701 was built in February 1963 as Union Pacific 701, frame no. 7648-2. This was the fourth UP diesel to wear this number; the previous examples were a Fairbanks-Morse ERIE-BUILT A-unit from March 1948 until February 1953, a GP7 from February until November 1953 and a GP20 from July 1960 until December 1962. The 701 was one of the last GP30’s on the UP roster. It was retired on 28 July 1989 and was leased to the City of Mineral Wells, Texas three months later for service on the city owned, 22-mile long, Mineral Wells & Eastern Railroad. This line was formerly the UP/MP/T&P‘s Weatherford, Mineral Wells & Northwestern subsidiary. The 701 was sold to the city on 7 February 1990, but the railroad closed in May 1992 and the locomotive was resold to the Acadiana Railway by mid-March 1993. |