In an email sent to me by an good friend, and ex-WC engineer. All ex-WC SD45 diesels are all gone from service. Equipment Location Pr Date Time(EST) L Train/ Destination Pr RR Init Number St MM DD HHMM E Event BO/HLD St SCAC WC 007497 No Data WC 007502 MARKHAM IL 01 19 1105 U Arrive In-Transit L53991 CN WC 007514 SCHILLER PARK IL 01 27 1658 U Departure Q11841 CN WC 007519 MARKHAM IL 01 24 1015 U Arrive In-Transit Q11841 CN WC 007531 MARKHAM IL 01 24 1015 U Arrive In-Transit Q11841 CN WC 007532 MEMPHIS TN 01 18 2118 U Arrive In-Transit M39731 CN They are all done guys, the WC 7514 was the last operable SD45 is off WC territory as I write this, wending it’s way on the IHB enroute Markham and retirement. An era is over guys.
What is the disposition of these units. I have seen several pictures of them sitting in Homewood and a few other places. Are they all getting the torch...going to NRE? Progress? HELM?
yes all are gone whe ni heard this yesterday i was almost about to cry, i loved the SD 45's my favorite locomitve. i was able to get pictures of 3 of them ( view my personal picture gallery to see them) i saw one of the 3 remaining jsut the other day which was 7531 in Stevens Point WI. otherwise in decembeer i saw 7515 & 7501. i hope CN dont have any plans to get rid of the rest of WC units then history will be destroyed. all we have now are geeps & 1 SD 35/39 & SW's & SD 40-2's ex algoma central units. i think history is already destoryed w/ no more WC SD 45's. i wish someone would or i hope someone did got some pics of it going up Bryon Hill for the last time since it left Fond Du lac WI yesterday. & in duplainville. im trying to think what WC would be like if CN never came in
I never got any pics of these but I remember seeing these on my former daily commute about seven years ago passing I 694 in the north metro of the Twin Cities. I always like the look of WC locos and liked that WC was not a "Giant" railroad. How things change over time.
Had the pleasure of seeing many of the WC's 45's on the CN/IC line thru Tolono Il.The last being 7592 about a year ago,still with a 20 cyl. 645. What a glorious sight and sound that was. The 45's have always been my favorites and will sure miss them.
While we're on the subject of SD45s...I've had quite a few of them in consists over the years (although none in the lead that I can recall) and this post got me looking around. I breezed through the Diesel Shop and noticed that the many of the WC SD45s in the Canadian National section are listed as 'SD45u'. How many variants of them were there ie., 45-2, -3, T, etc. and what does the 'u' denote? Upgrade perhaps? I'll see if I can dig up some pictures.
I hired out on the WC in 1995. When promoted to Locomotive engineer, I was lucky enough to run the 'flares' or 'big-burners' as some of us called them. The WC had replaced most of the engineer seats with comfortable adjustable ones, we even had seats stolen when the units went off line. The engines were great to run. On trips to Chicago(I was based at FDL) two could usually keep track speed once we got a shove over Byron. And speaking of Byron, many a day I was assigned two of these gals for helper service spending my duty shoving up, and gliding down the hill. I really enjoyed the sounds of the engine as I put it(them) through their paces. I've run all kinds of power, but the SD-45's are by far, my favorite. And yes they were easy on the eyes as well! Goodbye to a great group of power. Johnny Ripp
I lived 2 blocks from the B&O Belt railroad that ran from Bensenville into Chicago and I'd see the 45s both in WC colors and BN garb. Saw them all the time and loved them and yet I have only one sad picture taken on a Kodak 220 film cartridge camera with a BN green unit leading. Thankfully the paint scheme is alive and well.
As promised...a couple of the WCs from my travels. This one with the 'Customer Minded Employees' script on the long hood and flags on both sides under the cab windows.
I'm glad the PNWR has at least rebuilt SD45s such as the ex-KCS unit and their 3600s...........it helps satisfy my flare jones.
