Re: [CBQ] EMD SD45 Demonstrators on the Q

["Bill Schultz via groups.io" <jwschultz9=aol.com@groups.io>]

See p. 202 Burlington in Transition (Corbin Publications, 1967) of EMD 4354-4352 plus a third unidentified SD45 at Broken Bow, Neb., 4/1/67.

Bill Schultz

-----Original Message-----
From: HOL WAGNER <holpennywagner@msn.com>
To: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io>
Sent: Sun, May 2, 2021 8:55 am
Subject: Re: [CBQ] EMD SD45 Demonstrators on the Q

Back in the 1960s I was very much into diesels and kept up with happenings on all the roads west of the Missouri.  I was a subscriber and contributor to Extra 2200 South and the Omaha Camerail Club's monthly The Mixed Train newsletter.  I was one of perhaps a dozen fans in Denver who made the rounds of the local yards several times a week, taking photos and talking with employees about what had been going on.  I find no evidence in these sources of the SD45 demonstrators operating on the Burlington (and if they had, the Chicago-Denver route would undoubtedly have been the one where they were tested, along with Lincoln-Billings).  I entered the Army in February 1966 and so was not able to personally provide insight as to what did or did not occur, but I kept in close touch with friends in Denver who were still making the rounds of the yards regularly.  While I was in the Army the Q opted for U25Cs and U28Cs instead of SD45s and the C&S went with U30Cs and SD40s.  Both, of course, later bought SD45s, and the SD45 demonstrators did come to Denver, but after the BN merger.

All this boils down to a certainty on my part that the Q never tested the SD45 demonstrators.

Hol

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From: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io> on behalf of William Barber <clipperw@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2021 10:50 PM
To: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io>
Subject: Re: [CBQ] EMD SD45 Demonstrators on the Q

 

Tom,

The SD45 model lagged the introduction of the 40 series locomotives (officially, January 1, 1966). Some NYC GP40s were delivered in Nov. Dec., 1965. The SD45 demonstrators (4352  4353 - 4354) were released for service about March, 1966, if I recall correctly. The early demonstrations were on eastern railroads. I joined the EMD personnel with the three demonstrators in in May as a rider on the Reading and Erie-Lackawanna. In early June, I was sent to Chicago to meet the units as they arrived from east to continue the demonstration on the C&NW. While I was waiting for the units, I received a call from my boss to go to Minneapolis to replace a lead installation engineer assigned to the Great Northern delivery of SD45s and SDP40s, who had just terminated his employment with EMD. The GN SD45s were the first production SD45s. I spent the next six weeks with two other EMD field installation engineers completing the GN delivery. During my time in Minneapolis, the demonstrators arrived in Minneapolis, still on the C&NW.

I left Minneapolis about mid July for another assignment. I lost track of the demonstrators after that time. By the end of 1966, the SD45 was well know with a number already produced. Whether the demonstrators ever operated on the Q, I don’t know. Like you, I don’t think that I have ever seen a photo of them operating on the Q. If they did, they probably had little influence on Q’s later purchase of SD45s, which occurred in Jan. 1969, almost three years after introduction. Several years after the demonstration tour, the three units were overhauled and sold to the Delaware & Hudson.

Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO

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