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BN 1922

BN GP9 1922 was built as Northern Pacific 337 in August of 1957.

After delivery the 337 was assigned to the Tacoma Division out of Auburn, WA.

Looking at my notes I caught the 337 a couple of times on Stampede trains before the BN merger. First was on 9-20-69 when westbound 603 arrived at Auburn, WA with 3600 / 3623 / 2509 / 331 / 220 / 6019B / 6017B / 250 / 337 (SD45/SD45/U25C/GP9/GP9/F7B/F7B/GP9/GP9) and NP caboose 10415 was noted bringing up the rear.

The next time was on 11-15-69 and train 640 departing Auburn with units 2804 / 2500 / 3611 / 7009D / 337 / 217 (U28C/U25C/SD45/F9A/GP9/GP9) NP cabooses 10903 and 10121 were on the rear.

After the March 1970 BN merger the NP 337 was renumbered BN 1922 and continued to work over Stampede Pass.

On 1-14-72 the BN 1922 led a westbound freight through Easton, WA headed towards Auburn as seen in this Easton OS sheet from that date.

After 1922 was painted BN green I photographed it at Auburn, WA on 5-20-78.

Note the GP9 still has it's NP era steam bell plus no louvers on the carbody were removed meaning the 337 was never repainted into the NP's simplified paint scheme prior to the merger.

I photographed the 1922 once again on 1-3-82 but the GP9 was in storage north of Seattle at Balmer Yard along with sister Geeps 1632/1426/1901/1881/1785/1897.

I am guessing that this is soon after Auburn Yard was shut down as a maintenance facility and these units are awaiting disposition. The 1922 would be transferred to Illinois by 1983.

BN 1922 was still on the roster at the time of the BNSF merger and assigned BNSF number 1628. Here is a photo of the 1628 from rrpicturearchives:

After BNSF the 1628 was sold to BUGX in 2010 and renumbered 337 before being leased to Northwestern Pacific renumbered back to 1922 and given an SP gray and red paint scheme. Here is a photo of the 1922 at Petaluma, CA in 2014 on rrpicturearchives:

Photos from 2020 showed the front number boards gone and open battery box doors which did not look good but later photos from 2022 show the 1922 in an all gray scheme and back at work which is great to see:

Might be worth a trip to Schellville, CA to see the former NP 337/BN 1922 once again.