Brand New DM&IR SD38s at Proctor, Minnesota 1971
Fourth of July weekend 1971 finds brand new Electro-Motive SD38s 201 and 204 cruising through a clear track at Proctor Yard to find a train.
This is a good shot that shows the self-adhesive anti-skid material applied to both the low nose and the cab roof on either side of the horn. These units featured large snowplows on the front end only that initially had high-visibility orange stripes painted on each end. Later, vertical white road numbers were applied to those orange stripes.
If the dynamic brake fans look smaller than normal; they are. Just 34 inches in diameter instead of 36 inch. In later years, during SD38-2 production, dynamic brakes were removed from the buyer's option list as these smaller fans really didn't do the cooling job very well and space concerns above the prime mover made DBs a problem for the builder. The model was short-lived on account of these things.
The string of Soo Line cars to the right of the locomotives may have caught your eye too. These loads didn't come from the Mesabi Range. They came from the Cuyuna Iron Range, south of Grand Rapids. Soo and Northern Pacific operated that area jointly but by the end of 1969 the NP closed its ore dock in Superior. The small balance of loads to come out of that area (after the BN merger in March 1970) either went to the former Great Northern's Allouez docks or here to Proctor via interchange with the BN at Saunders, Wisconsin.
Missabe's Interstate Job handled interchange cars leaving north out of this yard, then took a hard left at Adolph, Minnesota, ran downhill to Steelton, crossed the St. Louis River and eventually arrived at Saunders, Wisconsin. Cars were shoved uphill into Saunders Yard, then loads were shoved back out again, to begin the ascent of Nevada Hill back to Adolph and again, into Proctor Yard.
Pictures of these Cuyuna ore trains taken after 1970 are in a word, rare.
Brand New DM&IR SD38s at Proctor, Minnesota 1971
Fourth of July weekend 1971 finds brand new Electro-Motive SD38s 201 and 204 cruising through a clear track at Proctor Yard to find a train.
This is a good shot that shows the self-adhesive anti-skid material applied to both the low nose and the cab roof on either side of the horn. These units featured large snowplows on the front end only that initially had high-visibility orange stripes painted on each end. Later, vertical white road numbers were applied to those orange stripes.
If the dynamic brake fans look smaller than normal; they are. Just 34 inches in diameter instead of 36 inch. In later years, during SD38-2 production, dynamic brakes were removed from the buyer's option list as these smaller fans really didn't do the cooling job very well and space concerns above the prime mover made DBs a problem for the builder. The model was short-lived on account of these things.
The string of Soo Line cars to the right of the locomotives may have caught your eye too. These loads didn't come from the Mesabi Range. They came from the Cuyuna Iron Range, south of Grand Rapids. Soo and Northern Pacific operated that area jointly but by the end of 1969 the NP closed its ore dock in Superior. The small balance of loads to come out of that area (after the BN merger in March 1970) either went to the former Great Northern's Allouez docks or here to Proctor via interchange with the BN at Saunders, Wisconsin.
Missabe's Interstate Job handled interchange cars leaving north out of this yard, then took a hard left at Adolph, Minnesota, ran downhill to Steelton, crossed the St. Louis River and eventually arrived at Saunders, Wisconsin. Cars were shoved uphill into Saunders Yard, then loads were shoved back out again, to begin the ascent of Nevada Hill back to Adolph and again, into Proctor Yard.
Pictures of these Cuyuna ore trains taken after 1970 are in a word, rare.