Union Pacific metal signage Diesel nose ??

Nice score. Obviously, you will want to rearrange the three pieces slightly...

Thanks, maybe they should be sideways somehow

Jeff B. Haertlein posted:

Thanks, maybe they should be sideways somehow

Nope. What you have may possibly off some sort of passenger equipment.

this looks a little closer to it...

Mill City posted:

this looks a little closer to it...

 

Not even remotely close.

Jack, I was referring to the arrangement, not what type of equipment that may have worn the signage. But, thank you anyway for your helpful comment.

Off Alco FA s or Turbine...early fifties, before the switch to decals

Rusty

I'm thinking Rusty has it.  The part that threw me off is that the top photo of the logo is cut apart and put together differently.  If you take the right side vertical wing, turn it 90 degrees,  and attach it to the left side of the UP logo; and do the same with the left wing... moving it across to attach to the right side of the logo, you've pretty much got what Rusty shows on the diesel front.  It appears to be made of metal which someone cut up and placed over a door or something.  

FJ

Its off the nose of some cab unit. My dad has the UP emblem off and E unit but he couldn't get the wings off and it looks exactly like that

The UP also used that herald on their truck trailers. Not sure if they were painted or metal, however.

Well here's hoping it is off an FA; but I too was wondering about on a trailer. The pictures of the FAs looks like it could be the animal! Thanks for all the response. Quite a piece. Perhaps we will get more info as this post moves on.

Could be off Nos. 50 -75 GTELs.....before decals. The word "railroad" was added to the shield around 1950 -'51, IIRC.

Interesting.  Your find really looks repurposed to me, exactly as FJ describes it.  Does the method of attaching the wings provide any clue to whether it was someone's "hack"   or a more professional approach?  Solder?  Bolts?  It looks like the left-hand one is a little askew.  Very nice to have 'though.  Where did you get/find it?

Tomlinson Run Railroad

On further review. I think I described the process of making the sign more complicated than it really was.  Once the "wings" were cut off from the center logo, they stayed on the same side as originally attached but were rotated 90 degrees so the cut sides became the new bottom; then they were attached behind the logo panel with what appears to be four bolts or rivets per side.  You're right, TOMLINSONRUNRR, the left side was not done as accurately as the right.  Whatever it is, it's cool.

FJ

It's obvious to me that these pieces were produced for the nose of a UPRR cab unit.  The center piece was bolted to the nose door and the wings were bolted onto the nose on each side of the nose door.  To know what class of locomotive they were mounted on, you'll need to assemble them and see how much the wings slope upward.  The more slant there was on the nose, the more the wings sloped upward.  You could also use the center piece to match the width of the nose door, which I am certain was different on Alcos, EMD's and the turbines.  Does it appear to have been used or is it unused?  If it came off of an EMD, then it should show evidence of a crease in the center, and could be from an F3, F7, E7, E8, (or maybe an E9, not sure whether the first UPRR E9's were delivered with bolt-on nose emblems.  The presence or absence of the word "Railroad" on the shield only serves to date the piece, as there were both types.  The amount of curvature on the wing pieces should indicate if it came from an EMD or an Alco.  If everything is completely flat, then it most likely never adorned a locomotive at all.

If you really do want to know how to narrow this down, you can get help from members of the UPRR's historical society.  You can Google the organization and get help making contact with a genuine expert on these nose emblems.

UPHS Streamliner Issue Vol. 22 No. 1: Diesel Locomotive Painting & Lettering Guide.

Based on information in the very detailed article with many photos.......

The word "Railroad" was added within the herald in 1950 in the shield under "Union Pacific". (changed again in 1969 when the word was removed and the heralds again simply said "Union Pacific")

1953 Cab units and Turbines had the Medal Medallion fastened into place with screws switched to a Scotchlite Medallion that was applied as a decal.

So what you have is a metal screw-on nose herald with the wording  "Union Pacific Railroad" so it is from a Cab unit or Turbine in the 1950 to 1953 time frame.

So, what you have is a really, REALLY cool piece of history that likely came from a very historically significant locomotive. (FA1 or Turbine.)

EDIT: BTW, that FA1 picture above is the berries!