From Great Northern to Great Pile of Junk
Looking like a model railroader’s parts pile, the shell of former Burlington Northern EMD NW5 No. 994 rests on top of a boxcar in a Council Bluffs, Iowa, scrap yard. Built as Great Northern 194 in 1946, BN later sold the unit to the Great Western Railway in Colorado before the unit made its way to the Council Bluffs Railroad in Iowa in the mid-1990s. Only 13 of these 1,000-h.p. diesel switchers were produced, with GN purchasing the largest fleet at ten units. Only a handful remain today.
PHOTO BY LAURENCE PEARLMAN
Santa Rides Behind Soo Line 1003
Soo Line 2-8-2 No. 1003 led the seventh annual Santa Train over Wisconsin & Southern tracks between Woodland and Hartford, Wis., on November 12. After making a brief stop outside of Hartford, the Santa Train made a grand entrance into town where families boarded the caboose to visit with Santa Claus. The train is sponsored by the Steam Locomotive Heritage Association (owners of Soo 1003), the city of Hartford, and private donations. When not in use, the locomotive is stored and displayed at the Wisconsin Automotive Museum in Hartford.
PHOTO BY MIKE RAIA
history center on donated property in Rocklin, Calif. SP-10 will be the major feature of an exhibit gallery including a restored motorcar, railroad china, and many artifacts highlighting the history of the Southern Pacific. Negotiations began in earnest last
March, once transportation had been secured. The $12,000 purchase price was raised by May 2016, and both Union Pacific and BNSF donated the cost of transportation from Texas to California. In November a brand-new TTX flat
was delivered to Galveston to facilitate the move. L&T Services provided the cranes to lift SP-10 onto flatcar XTTX 146298. The loaded flat was then moved to Galveston Yard on November 10, and departed west seven days later. By the end of November, the car had arrived in Stockton. There are no immediate
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plans for the car — it will be unloaded from the flatcar and stored temporarily, awaiting preparation of the grounds at the heritage center.
Poland’s Wolsztyn Steam Experience Set to Return in 2017 For 20 years, the Wolsztyn Experience
in Wolsztyn, Poland, has been the “go-to” place for railfans the world over wanting to experience the thrill of running high-speed, steam-powered passenger trains. While in recent years steam operations had been curtailed, new era will begin in Wolsztyn with the resump- tion of daily steam-powered passenger service during the first quarter of 2017. A new organization called the Cultural Institute is in place to manage the steam
facility, locomotives, passenger cars, and steam crews. The organization’s directors have been in place since September, headed by the Polish equivalent to a state governor. Central to the new organization and the new agreement is a commitment from several Polish govern- ment agencies to provide the necessary subsidies to maintain steam service for the next several years. Steam passenger service will operate
over three routes, including Wolsztyn to Leszno and Wolsztyn to Zbaszynek on weekdays, and Wolsztyn to Poznan on weekends. Each run provides about four hours of cab time and approximately 18 station stops per day. According to a Wolsztyn Experience
press release, three things separate the Wolsztyn Experience from the others — peak operating speeds of 60 to 65 m.p.h.
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