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BN 4255
BN C425 4255 was built by Alco as SP&S 315 in July of 1965 and assigned out of Vancouver, WA.
After the BN merger the SP&S 315 was renumbered to BN 4255 and like the other BN Alcos, was assigned to Vancouver, WA. I first saw the BN 4255 on 11-6-71 when a southbound train passed thru Auburn, WA with units 4255/725/2511 (C425/F7B/GP35) and I noted the 4255 was in SP&S paint. The next day I was in Seattle and saw a northbound led by BN 4255/2511/725 headed for Interbay. I saw the 4255 one last time in 1971 when the 2201/1854/4255 headed south through Auburn, WA towards Vancouver, WA on 12-4-71
RRpicturearchives has a photo of the 4255 still in SP&S color taken in 1972 at Stockton, CA.
It was later painted BN green and my first photo of it was a rear end roster taken in Seattle 3-17-78.
A little over two years later I photographed the 4255 once more, in a deadline at Portland, OR 5-3-80.
BN retired the 4255 in August of 1980 but it soon found a new home on the Kyle, RR. The Dons Depot website has a photo of the KYLE 4255 in Kansas from 1982 that can be found here:
From Kansas the 4255 was later sold to the Indiana Hi Rail where it renumbered to IHRC 325 and repainted brown and white. Here is a great photo of it from 1993 found on RailPictures.net
In the mid-1990's the Indiana Hi Rail went bankrupt and out of this came the Wabash and Ohio (in Indiana) where it kept the paint scheme and the number 325. Next came the CNUR in 2003, still in Indiana. It kept the paint scheme but was crudely relettered CNUR. It wasn't there very long as by 2004 it was in Pennsylvania and on the Delaware Lackawanna where it went from the DL 325 to the DL 2457. Later it ended up in a deadline where its future was not looking good. Interesting story here from someone who visited Scranton in 2012:
And a photo of the 2457:
And this brings me to 5-13-16 where on a trip to Steamtown I literally stumbled on the DL 2457 in the shops at Scranton, PA. A friend informed me on my last night in Scranton that the 2457 was here in the shops getting ready for a return to service and about to be repainted. I was given a name to contact there about getting some pics. So the next morning I headed over to the DL shops and soon found the C425 stripped down and ready for repainting. My contact was not there but some shop workers gave me the go ahead for a few photos. Here is the ex-BN 4255 with it's BN green showing through (plus the IHR colors too):
The 2457 now wears the new Delaware Lackawana colors and looks great! This is from August 2016, not long after my visit.
There has also been some confusion on the 2457's heritage, some rosters showing the 2457 as being the ex-BN 4252 but I after some inquiring I was informed by the DL's Vice President Mechanical that the 2457 is indeed the ex-BN 4255.
I really need to get back to Scranton, PA to see the 2457 once again. Plus the D-L has two other ex-BN Alcos on their roster making for two in service while the other is in a dead line.