Nostalgia & History > C&NW oddball paint

It sure is odd seeing the classic C&NW logo pasted onto a Cascade Green cab! In a strange way, they kinda go together...

1. C&NW 6474 leads roster mate 6485, both in BN paint near Rochester, MN on February 12, 1986.
Original Kodachrome trader slide by Roger Bee.

2. C&NW 6583 still in Cascade Green near Waseca, MN on November 11, 1984.

3. C&NW 6477 also still in Cascade Green in Rochester, MN on March 29, 1986.
Images 2-3: Original Kodachrome trader slides from Gary Helling.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/24 05:04 by santafe199.

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My friend Jim Watson gets into this act, as well:

4. C&NW 6717, still in N&W base paint was captured on Kodachrome 25 in Minneapolis, MN on December 8, 1973.
Original slide by the late James W. Watson.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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CNW did that on many of their second hand units.  I have  pics of ex Mopac, Conrail and BN units, all with the CNW herald on the side.

Dave

Interesting to see these behemoths logging a few more miles on lines spun off or abandoned by CNW.

santafe199 Wrote:
>> 1. C&NW 6474 leads roster mate 6485, both in BN paint near Rochester, MN>>

First photo, second unit, the 6485 was ordered as NP 3643, but the BN merger happened so it arrived in Cascade green as BN 6485. But wait, there's more... it later went on to be MRL 367. 'Member her? Sadly sent to scrap in 2007.

Dave in Polson

6583 might be one of the ex-Q SD45's that were delivered in the "hockey stick" scheme.

Great stuff Lance - thanks for sharing

Can NEVER see enough pics of C628s, especially high nosed ones.  Still have great memories of a trip to the U.P. in the early 80s - seeing these beasts haul solid sets of iron ore jennies around was something I'll never forget.  Hope to share these pics someday when I get to scanning my father's slides.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/24 08:30 by rbenko.

Well done -C&NW certainly put getting them running over getting them painted.
Bob

Lance, thanks for putting these on, real nice photos. The CNW I think picked these with the intention to get them rebuilt to Dash-2 standards? and use them in the up and coming coal business. Either CNW figured it was too costly or EMD and GE told them to hold on and see what is coming, I didn't go out on the road much in the mid-late eighties so I don't know how wore out they were, I don't think the CNW used them over a couple of years.  KCRW287

I'm told the CNW crews referred to these ex-BN units as "green weenies"...

- Norm

KCRW287 Wrote: > ... I don't think the CNW used them over a couple of years ...

That might explain why I knew next-to-nothing about them. I got these slides in trade in the mid-80s. I must have filed them away and promptly forgot about them. When I finished a recent scanning jag through my C&NW Logan box I was very surprised to find them in there. Hence, I got them P-shopped & posted right away... 

Lance

northtown still stencilled on them?  wonder if any made it to the new  Orin line under CNW ownership?

Great shots Lance!  I hope we see more from your CNW Logan box.  The C&NW was looking at rebuilding their fleet of former ex CR and BN SD45s.  They experimented by rebuilding one in kind (CNW 6500), rebuilding one into an SD40-2 equivalent in an SD45 body (6564) and rebuilding one with a Caterpillar 3612 prime mover (6000).  No additional units were rebuilt and new SD50s and SD60s were acquired.

Dennis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/24 12:56 by CNW.

KCRW287 Wrote:
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> Lance, thanks for putting these on, real nice
> photos. The CNW I think picked these with the
> intention to get them rebuilt to Dash-2 standards?
> and use them in the up and coming coal business.
> Either CNW figured it was too costly or EMD and GE
> told them to hold on and see what is coming, I
> didn't go out on the road much in the mid-late
> eighties so I don't know how wore out they were, I
> don't think the CNW used them over a couple of
> years.  KCRW287

in the 80's with the coal boom they were power short, most of the SD40-2's were on coal trains or along with GP50's on the birds (falcons, Z trains whatever lol).  

The 2nd hand SD45's from BN and Conrail where to alleviate the power shortage.  CNW did hand pick a few for experiment rebuilding. 1 got a CAT engine,another was basicly turned into a SD40-2.  Quite a few got repainted into yellow/green as well and some where just left to be canabalized for parts.

But too CNW got some cash and EMD answered with SD50's and a cancelled SOO Line order of SD60's allowed CNW to grab 55 of those units quickly so that doomed the rag tag SD45 fleet.  The '45s stayed active into the early 90's somewhat but by UP takeover they were on deadlines and UP didnt want them.
Intetesting only 3 original non DB CNW SD45's were left on the CNW rosfer in 1995.
JC

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> 6583 might be one of the ex-Q SD45's that were
> delivered in the "hockey stick" scheme.

The Q SD-45s would have ended up in the 6400 series, aroung the 6460s or 6470s.  

RR