Burlington Northern No. 6234 on a photo charter at the St. Croix River Bridge in 2008. This unit will be used on the BN photo charter in May.
Steve Glischinski
OSCEOLA, Wis. — A diesel photo charter in Wisconsin next month aims to recreate the Burlington Northern Railroad of the 1970s. The May 8 charter will take place on the Minnesota Transportation Museum’s Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway based in Osceola. The charter is intended as a follow-up to Union Depot Train Day in St. Paul, Minn., on May 6.
The operation will feature two trains with Burlington Northern locomotives: BN SD9 No. 6234, which is owned by the museum, will be re-lettered to its original number, Colorado & Southern No. 839, and will pull a ballast train with a BN caboose. The Great Northern Railway Historical Society’s GN SD45 400 “Hustle Muscle” (the first production SD45 built in 1966) will pull a passenger train of GN cars and will be temporarily renumbered to its immediate post BN merger number, BN No. 6430.
Several run-bys are planned at scenic locations, including the bridge over the St. Croix River that connects Minnesota and Wisconsin. There will also be a night photo session featuring the two units at Osceola on the evening of May 7.
