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BN 6417
Northern Pacific purchased their thirty SD45's in three groups. NP 3617 was a part of the second group of 16 numbered 3604-3619 delivered in April and May of 1967 All of NP's SD45's were assigned to Livingston, MT working both east and west.
My notes show that I never did see the NP 3617 but I know it made numerous trips east and west through Easton, WA. One of those times was on February 17, 1970, just before the BN merger as seen in this page from the February 1970 Easton OS book when it passed through Easton at 635 PM westbound.
After the BN March 1970 merger the NP 3617 was renumbered BN 6417 and remained assigned to Livingston.
The first time I noted seeing the BN 6417 was on 8-23-71 leading train #174 at Easton, WA just after crossing Stampede Pass with units 6417/6634/1882/1637/1878 (SD45/F45/GP9/GP7/GP9) My notes say the 6417 was still in NP paint.
By 1974-1975 the 6417 was reassigned to Havre, MT and made frequent trips out to the Northwest. On a trip to Stevens Pass on 8-28-76 I caught the 6417 leading westbound #83 into Skykomish, WA with units 6417/2505/1796/6917 (SD45/GP35/GP9/SD40-2) and as the helper units were being cut out I was invited up into the cab of the 6417 and got to go for a ride at Skykomish as units 2505 and 1796 were set out and F9B 805 was added between the 6417 and 6917 for the trip to Interbay.
Four years later I photograph the 6417 leading train X08 eastbound out of Auburn 3-23-80 at East Auburn siding with units 6417/3035/6815/8059 (SD45/GP40/SD40-2/SD40-2) at 1000AM headed for Stampede Pass.
The OS sheet from Easton, WA that day shows the XO8 passing through at 1157 that same morning.
My only roster shot of the 6417 was taken at Cashmere, WA 3-9-85 on the ex-GN. While not being very good it does show the 6417 has lost it's extra cab side windows but still has the notch in the nose where the red warning light had been removed.
In March of 1987 the 6417 was retired by the BN. It was picked up by the Wisconsin Central, the notch in the nose was plated over and the SD45 repainted but kept the number 6417. Kevin Piper photographed the WC 6417 in fresh paint at Chicago, IL 6-13-90.
Later the WC 6417 was later renumbered to WC 6495, then rebuilt and renumbered to WC 7495 just before the CN takeover of the WC.
There are many good photos of the WC 7495 on the internet but I like this one from rrpicturearchives:
After the CN took over the Wisconsin Central all of the SD45's were retired. It looks like CN saw the historical value of the last remaining Northern Pacific SD45 and donated it to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum at Duluth, MN in 2004. Since then it has been repainted back to NP colors with some finishing work yet to be done such as having the class lights reinstalled front and back. It would also be nice to see the correct herald placed on the front of the SD45. During the 2017 NPRHA Convention in Duluth the 3617 was on display at the NP depot/museum. I took these photos on 9-14-17 during the convention.
Here is a view from above showing the rear of the 3617. Those rear number boards have since been replaced with correct ones (white numbers on black background) improving the look from the rear greatly.
Donations are also now being accepted to make the 3617 operational again. I plan to donate monthly as I would love to see the 3617 restored properly and be able to run under her own power once again. Anyone also wishing to donate can find more info here.
It's the last NP SD45. I'm glad it was saved from the scrappers torch as the other 29 NP SD45's were not so lucky.