Nostalgia & History > 50's for Friday

The year 1980 was the start of a period in Chicago and Northwestern's history of purchasing new locomotives.  The CNW was the first railroad to purchase the GP 50 model and took delivery of 50 that were numbered starting at 5050.  The GP 50 wasn't a great seller for EMD and only 278 were built.  Then, in 1981, CNW purchased 35  SD 50's from EMD.  The SD 50 was a little more popular but only 431 of those were built and CNW purchased 35 numbered starting at 7000.  Of note, one of the CNW SD 50's is alive and well at Illinois Railway Museum.

Image 1  Westbound on "The Bird" at Dixon, Illinois   November 1984
Image 2  Westbound coal at Missouri Valley, Iowa   No date on slide.  I'm pretty sure this is a coal train heading towards Omaha but it must be eastern coal.  Please correct me if you know better.  

Have a great Friday

Dave

---

---

2nd photo looks like the West Wye at Mo Valley headed to Cal Jct then up the line to Sioux City. Maybe a Neal Train or a Bayport MN coal train. 
MILW86A 

Nice shots...

JG