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BN 5718

BN GE U33C 5718 was built as Northern Pacific 3303 in July of 1969, just nine months before the BN merger. NP ordered 10 GE U33C's numbered 3300-3309 and the 3300 HP "U-boats" were assigned to Livingston, MT.

My friend Kevin Piper has a nice photo of the NP 3303 is service in his collection that was taken less than a month after the BN merger at Downers Grove, IL 3-28-70. Here it is leading a pair of CB&Q units.

Photo from the Kevin Piper Collection

I did happen to see the NP 3303 myself but it was a few months after the BN merger and it had not yet been renumbered. On 5-10-70 I was at Easton, WA and noted NP 7012A/CB&Q 5665/NP 3303/BN 5713/NP 227/NP 334/BN 9863/BN 9857 (F9A/U28C/U33C/U33C/GP9/GP9/SDP45/SDP45) pass through eastbound at 1116 AM. That was a lot of locomotives, and quite colorful!

Eventually the NP 3303 was renumbered BN 5718. I found a photo of the BN 5718 from 1973 still in NP paint on rrpicturearchives:

I managed only one photo of the BN 5718 and that was a roster shot taken at Interbay, WA on 5-14-79. Again it was on a train with lots of locomotives. This time southbound #139 out of Seattle with 2543/4010/1783/2216/6633/5718/2237 (GP35/C415/GP9/GP30/F45/U33C/GP30):

By 1982 all of the U33C's were in storage across the BN system. BN 5718 was retired from the roster in July 1984, after just 15 years of service (some of that in storage) and scrapped.