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BN 214

The NP Pictorial Vol 2 states the 155 was assigned to the St Paul Division in July 1964 working at Minneapolis. Vol 3 of the NP Pictorial still had it working Minneapolis in October of 1969. On Page 15 of the NP Pictorial Vol 3 there is a photo of the NP 155 at St Paul in 1968.

In the summer of 1967 my family visited relatives in Ohio and heading home we rode the NP's North Coast Limited from Chicago back to Seattle. On the train I picked up this brochure and it looks like I wrote down some engine sightings.

While my handwriting is pretty poor (I was all of 12 years old) I have just learned something I did not know before. As can be seen I did not write down any locations for these sightings which granted were no doubt very brief, as from a dome of a moving train. But now as I am doing this research I finally have a good idea of where I saw these NP locomotives. First engine written down happens to be the NP 155 itself. NP 321 is a GP9 and it was also assigned to the St Paul Division. NP 6701A is a passenger F9A. Might have even been one of the motors for the power on my train. I don't know what the GN 51 could be as there was no 51 on the Great Northern roster in 1967. Perhaps a GN caboose maybe?

After the BN 1970 merger the NP 155 was renumbered to BN 214 and stayed assigned to the Minneapolis area. I might have never seen the BN 214 except for a trip through Spokane, WA in 1990 when I first saw and photographed it. There was the suggestion it had come to Tacoma to get another coat of BN green paint and it just never left the state.

The 214 managed to survive up to the 1995 BNSF merger when it got another number, the 3545 with BNSF sublettering. I saw and photographed the 3545 around Seattle a number of times and it is shown here at Tacoma, WA 8-27-06 working a switch job. Note that it was set up for Remote Control operations.

I believe that was the last time I saw an ex-NP SW1200 in active service on the BNSF. The most recent photos I have seen of the 3545 were taken in Houston, TX last October 2009. It did not look active in those photos however. I have the feeling there are currently no ex-NP SW1200's working on the BNSF. That shot of the BNSF 3545 will probably be my last. Luckily there will be other ex-NP SW1200's in service on shortlines for some time to come.