A Different Kind of Prairie Dog

[simer4]

Today, I went on the Prairie Dog Central with my girlfriend. Just like all the other times I have gone on the excursion, it has been the same, great experience; a great ride, the oldest operating steam engine in North America, and a friendly, hospitable train crew. However, this year was different. We got the chance to get a ride in ex-BNML (Midland Railway of Manitoba) #2, BNSF 1685, the last operating high-hood, first generation GP9. It was quite the experience. First the engine stalled when we first began to move; literally 2 meters after start-up. Once the engine was restarted (to my surprise, we were in the Geep from start-up to shut-down), we continued to do our switching duties; which were putting the caboose back in it's siding, and putting the passenger cars back in the barn. We then proceeded to put her to sleep back in the shed, where we then departed from our 20 minute adventure. I can now assure you that the vibrating noise that you hear in RSC's GP9, would not fit this ancient, built in 1957. This GP9 has massive vibrations, and even sitting at idle causes you lighting bob up and down. Upon hitting notch 3, the vibration noise was deafening. But, oh boy, that 16-567C sure sounded nice. Another note on sound: the sound of the engine connecting up with the generator is not loud at all, more like a small click only able to be heard on the inside. It also wouldn't be noticeable with someone who isn't paying much attention, that is how quiet it is. Upon further investigation, I found that this engine has a steam generator in it.

And now for some pictures of BNSF 1685: