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Ultimate Fate of the Minnesota Zephyr F7s?

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Ultimate Fate of the Minnesota Zephyr F7s?
Posted by Great Northern Fan 54 on Monday, January 23, 2023 11:52 AM

IIRC, the two Fs are Ex SP&S (787 nee-804) and Ex CNW (788). I've been trying to find out what happened to 787 since to my knowledge that's the last surviving SP&S F-Unit. From my research, 787 was last seen being sold on Ozark while 788 is still on sale. 

 

Anyone know what happened to them?

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Posted by rdamon on Monday, January 23, 2023 3:14 PM

Here is 788 from November of 2022

 

And this looks like 787

 

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Posted by BEAUSABRE on Monday, January 23, 2023 5:29 PM

What was SP&S doing with F7's? It wasn't  allowed to have EMD's! That was only for NP and GN

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Monday, January 23, 2023 8:08 PM

lol

Judging by pre-BN pictures that I've seen, I think their F units (seven F3's and F7's, iirc) were bought for passenger service alongside their sole E unit on passenger trains.

Alco PA's would've been more in-line with their typical purchases, but they probably wanted commonality with their parent's passenger power on trains like the Empire Builder and North Coast Limited that jointly operated over SP&S rails?

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Posted by JayBee on Saturday, January 28, 2023 10:27 PM

They also owned GP9s.

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Posted by Great Northern Fan 54 on Monday, January 30, 2023 3:07 PM

According to the Inland Railroad Museum's website, they have successfully purchased 787

https://inlandnwrailmuseum.com/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnxwgOsPiSl/

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