Hi, I believe all CNW fans are very familiar with CNW having moved their roster of Alcos from Huron SD to Green Bay and up into the UP of Michigan in the 80s. I am curious whether all of those Alcos were scrapped or if any ended up being sold or traded in and continued to soldier on. I believe GBWs Alcos all went to WC and then sold off or scrapped (although WC apparently used GBW Alcos for a very short time to deal with a locomotive shortage). One GBW ended up in the railroad museum in Green Bay and one (former LS&I) went to the IL train museum. Can anyone share what they know? Thanks.
Don Strack's roster has disposition information.
https://utahrails.net/cnw/cnw-number-index.php
The C628's were all scrapped upon retirement, most after several years of storage when C&NW decided to retain the upper Michigan ore line (The C628's had been retained with the intention of selling them with the line, given their suitability for the service).
One was parted out and scrapped in Wisconsin in 1980 (wreck damaged?), two were traded in to EMD in 1986 when the fleet was parked (going towards the SD60 order), three were sold National Railway Equipment in 1990 (NRE scrapped all three), and the remaining 24 went to the Pielet Brothers scrapyard in 1990.
The remaining Alco's at the end of C&NW's Alco era in 1986 (1 RS-36, 4 C425's, and 10 RS-32's) all went in trade to EMD on the SD60 order, going to St. Louis Auto Shredding where they were scrapped.
Doesent Minnesota Commercial RR own 1 ex CNW Alco?
JC
The RS27's were originally from C&NW, traded in back to Alco for C425's. They were then sold to GB&W, who later sold them to Minnesota Commercial.
Two of the C&NW's four RS-27's survive on the Minnesota Commercial. The only survivors of that model and I believe the only extant C&NW Alco diesels besides RSD-5 #1689 at the Illinois Railway Museum (Although substantial portions of several other C&NW Alco's survive, like Iowa Northern plow #77 rebuilt from a C&NW RSD-5 by the Northwestern after retirement).
I'm unsure of the current operational status of this pair of RS-27's. Online pictures suggest that the Alco's still on their property have been idled in recent years, but they were both still operational a few years ago when Trains profiled them in their Locomotives special issue (2015 or thereabouts).
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