By Railfan & Railroad Staff
UNION, Ill. — The Illinois Railway Museum has purchased a former Chicago & North Western SD50, the first of its model to ever be preserved by a museum. The locomotive, C&NW 7009, was most recently owned by National Railway Equipment Co., a locomotive broker in Silvis, Ill., and was on its way to Union this week.
Locomotive 7009 was built in 1985 and was one of 35 acquired by the C&NW to move Powder River Basin coal. In later years, the locomotives were put in iron ore service in Upper Michigan and general freight service across the C&NW system. After the fleet’s original lease expired, the locomotives were sold to NRE for lease service on other railroads. Locomotive 7009 last ran in common-carrier service in 2006.
“(The) 7009 is a very significant acquisition for us,” said IRM’s Curator of Diesel Locomotives Jamie Kolanowski. “Not only is it representative of one of Chicago’s legendary railroads and built by Electro-Motive right here in Chicagoland, but it is also in remarkably original condition, not having been rebuilt with aftermarket upgrades. It even still wears its original C&NW paint applied at the factory. Its historic fabric is extremely complete.”
Earlier this week, the locomotive was inspected and cleared for movement. It was sent to Blue Island, Ill., where it was interchanged from Iowa Interstate to Indiana Harbor Belt. The locomotive will eventually be interchanged to Union Pacific and brought to the museum as early as this week.
IRM plans to restore the locomotive to its as-delivered C&NW look and use it on the museum’s five-mile-long demonstration railroad.
Locomotive 7009 is the first SD50 in the IRM collection, the seventh C&NW locomotive and the 26th EMD locomotive.
While donations covered the purchase price, the cost of transportation and the track space assessment (a per-foot charge the Museum imposes on all new arrivals to cover the construction and maintenance of the track the equipment will occupy) still need to be covered. The Museum has established a special fund specifically to pay these charges for 7009 and future diesel locomotive acquisitions. Donations can be made online.
