BN GP9m 1365 at Superior East End, Wisconsin on July 27, 1975

This Ray Kucaba Kodachrome shows Superior-assigned BN 1365 parked at one of its local assignment locations—Superior East End. This former Northern Pacific stomping ground is where railroading actually began in Superior, Wisconsin. NP generally kept a single Alco RS-1 here for local duties until they were retired shortly after the Burlington Northern merger. Back-ups were a single RS3 or a GP9. As the yard switching here was mostly flat and practically at water level, the surrounding tracks required only a minimum of horse-power to move freight cars in and out of the docks that were located here. After 1970, BN almost always kept a GP5, GP7 or GP9 here as those were rated at 1,350, 1,500, and 1,750 horse-power, respectively. The most likely locomotives to be assigned here were the 1350, 1352, 1364, 1365, 1540, 1547, 1817 or 1818. Of those, 1350, 1365, 1540 and 1818 were used most often. I never saw the 1831 or 1832 working here but I did catch an SD7 or SD9 here on rare occasions. Their extra weight and tractive power was better-used almost anywhere else in the Twin Ports so they didn't come down here very often. The NP's Old Town Job ran to East End all the way from Rice's Point, via Central Avenue. That job is what brought cars to and from East End for the docks located here. NP used a combination of pairs of Alco RS3 and RS11, and EMD GP9 locomotives on most of these runs. But they did have a rather odd and special set of locomotives that made the trip on a very regular basis too. That set included an Alco S4 switcher that was multiple-unit capable so that it could bring an EMD F7 or F9B along with it to help pull the tonnage back up the hill from the water's edge. After dropping cars in the yard at East End this odd combo of power would turn on the wye, to reorient the S4 into a lead position again for the return trip to Duluth. That was the longest transfer run in all of the Twin Ports.

Here's a shot of the Old Town Job's Alco S4 and EMD F7B motive power combo on the ready track at Rice's Point in 1969. I got this one from my old friend, Russ Porter, who had relatives in Duluth which made for a good excuse to visit the NP's roundhouse several times each year: www.flickr.com/photos/jeff_lemke/32710907465/in/dateposted/

Taken on: January 30, 2017

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Sets appears in: • Burlington Northern Railroad • Great Northern Railway more » • Superior, Wisconsin • East End—Superior, WI « less

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