Northern Pacific Railway No. 245

Northern Pacific Railway No. 245 was built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division in February 1956, one of more than 3,500 GP9s (for General Purpose) locomotives built from 1954 to 1959. A four-axle locomotive weighing 120 tons, stretching 56 feet and generating 1,750 horsepower, the GP9s were among the engines that replaced steam locomotives. The new diesel-electric locomotives were cheaper to run and required less maintenance.

Northern Pacific bought 157 GP9s, but few pulled passenger trains. The 245 was one that did. It had a steam generator to supply heat to passenger coaches.

Schultz found Dakota Quality Grain Cooperative using the 245 as a switching engine at its Parshall, North Dakota, plant. The company was looking for a bigger engine while the railroad museum was looking for something more economical to use on its tourist trains. Schultz helped arrange the swap of a redundant locomotive in the museum’s collection for the 245.

The Canadian Pacific Railroad volunteered to move No. 245 from Parshall to Duluth, where it arrived two weeks ago. The museum rolled it out Monday in honor of the anniversary of the completion of America’s first transcontinental railroad with the pounding of the golden spike at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869.