Northern Pacific 3617


Northern Pacific 3617 is a restored SD45 diesel locomotive originally owned by the Northern Pacific. It was built in 1967 as a replacement to older locomotives that were "trade-ins" for new units in the 1960s. NP 3617 now is a display piece and is in restoration for operation at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum.

History

In the mid-1960s Northern Pacific started to replace its first-generation diesel locomotives. Northern Pacific's first second-generation diesel locomotive purchases came from General Electric. But General Motors' Electro-Motive Division was determined to regain a lost customer, and persuaded NP to buy four SD45 locomotives, contingent on the performance of the EMD's demonstators. After the loan of a pair of demonstrators, EMD secured an additional order for sixteen locomotives, and later ten more. A forth order for 20 was still outstanding when the NP merged into Burlington Northern in March 1970.
NP 3617 was a part of the second order of SD45s purchased by Northern Pacific. NP 3617 was built in April 1967 and was delivered like all of NP's SD45s in their black and gold freight paint scheme. At, the SD45s were the largest on Northern Pacific's diesel locomotive fleet, and were allocated to the transcontinental freight locomotive pool. NP 3617 operated on the Northern Pacific only 3 years until the Burlington Northern merger. The 3617 received a new number, 6417 and was eventually repainted in BN's cascade green scheme. The 6417 then operated on the Burlington Northern until its retirement in March 1987.
Wisconsin Central Ltd. began operation in October 1987, and the 6417 was one of the ex-BN SD45s that the railroad utilised at the start of its operations. The locomotive would be renumbered twice more, to 6485 and later 7495. Canadian National acquired the Wisconsin Central in 2001. The 7495 continued as a WC unit until 2007, when it was donated to the Lake Superior Railroad museum in Duluth, MN.
From 2007 until 2015, extensive restoration was completed to restore the locomotive to its original Northern Pacific appearance. It was at one point sent to North Dakota to be repainted. Among being repainted its gyrating-warning light on its nose was restored. Its restoration, as of October 2015, was largely completed, but some electronic equipment is to be installed to complete its restoration as an operation unit.

Present-day operations

Because 3617 is not yet operational, it is only displayed inside the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. Less than a week after being returned to the museum in September 2015, it was featured during LSRM's annual "Railfan Weekend". Because 3617 could not operate on its own, the LSRM contributed Soo Line 2500 as a helper. Since then it has been displayed in the museum, awaiting electrical work before going into service on the North Shore Scenic Railroad.