Nostalgia & History > A Museum Piece On The Move

No longer a C&NW owned unit, GP-7 #1518 is now property of the Illinois Railway Museum at Union, Illinois. It is, however, on the move once again over it's former territory of which it no doubt logged many miles during it's active career. The old veteran is seen here going east through Clinton, Iowa on train KSPRA in the company of much newer power on 6-16-87. The beautiful geep is on it's way back home to Union after being on display as part of the C&NW Historical Society meeting in Council Bluffs. I'm trying hard not to be biased, but I don't think the paint scheme on the 1518 can be beat. I don't even know if it can be matched. Those stripes are absolutely awesome!!

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I like the "Route of the 400" slogan too. Kind of reminds me of the "The Way of the Zephrs" for the Burlington.

The CNW 1518 is now having its cab and cab sub-base rebuilt at Union. The sub-base was rotten due to decades of corrosion, largely caused by sand-salt sprinkled on the running boards during midwestern winters. The 26L air brakes are also, I believe, being replaced with 6BL, to deconvert the unit back to its as-delivered condition as EMD 100, the first GP7 demo unit, from October 1949.