OSCEOLA, Wis. — Trains Magazine is sponsoring a two-day photo charter in September featuring vintage diesel locomotives from the Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM) collection. Trains will run Sept.11-12 out of Osceola on MTM’s Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway, which operates over Canadian National’s 25-mile former Soo Line Dresser Subdivision. Trains will be pulled by diesels from Great Northern Railway, Soo Line, and Burlington Northern. It will be the first photo charter using the Museum’s restored Great Northern SDP40 No. 325.
No. 325 was built by EMD in 1966, one of six 3,000-hp SDP40s GN purchased for passenger service. Only 20 SDP40s were built between 1966 and 1970 for GN and National Railways of Mexico. Transferred to freight service upon Amtrak’s inception in 1971, No. 325 operated under various numbers for GN successor Burlington Northern and BNSF Railway until it was retired in 2008. BNSF donated the locomotive to the museum in 2009, and it has been a mainstay of the Osceola & St. Croix Valley since its donation wearing BN Cascade Green colors.
No. 325 was professionally repainted in as-built Great Northern Omaha Orange and Pullman Green colors by RELCO at Albia, Iowa. In addition to No. 325, MTM has repainted several streamlined GN passenger cars in their collection to match No. 325.
The two-day event is tentatively scheduled to include the following:
Sept. 11:
No. 325 will pull a five-car matching Great Northern passenger train to replicate GN’s secondary streamliners like the Seattle-Portland Pool Service and the Seattle-Vancouver “Internationals.” That evening, a night photo session will be held in Osceola with No. 325 and Soo Line GP7 No. 559, which is painted in Soo maroon and gold. The night session will be conducted by photographer and Trains Magazine correspondent Chris Guss.
Sept. 12:
Two trains will be operated. A heavyweight passenger train will be pulled by Soo 559, with recently repainted Northern Pacific triple combine (RPO/baggage/coach) No. 1102 and two Rock Island “Al Capone” commuter coaches, which were also recently repainted. The second train will replicate a Burlington Northern local freight of the 1970s, pulled by BN SD9 6234 and vintage box cars from MTM’s Jackson Street Roundhouse collection, trailed by a BN caboose.
Ticket prices include rail fare on the Osceola & St. Croix Valley Ry. for two days featuring the three trains with multiple photo runbys, plus the night photo shoot with professional lighting. A boxed lunch will be provided both days. Snacks and beverages will be available for purchase on board the train. To ensure quality photo opportunities, ticket sales are limited to 50 people.
Tickets can be purchased online at Eventbrite.
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