SD 24

As part of the agreement between Bison Rail and North East Railroad, NERR CEO & President Bob Artim agreed to transfer certain locomotives over to Bison Rail to aid them in their start-up. Two of these locomotives were Hi-hood SD24's with a long and rich history. They started out on the Chicago Burlington & Quincy before being absorbed into the Burlington Northern. Their next tour of duty was on the Maryland Midland, and from there they went to Steamtown before coming back to familiar territory as Fox River Valley units. When the FRV was taken over by the Wisconsin Central, they went to work for their 6th owner. This is where they were when they were purchased by the NERR. While on the NERR they received the usual excellent maintenance associated with NERR power, so were in great shape to do their job on the BR. They were originally purchased by the CB&Q on EMD order #5598 in May of 1959, and carry serial numbers 25207 & 25212. Their history can be traced as follows:

(a) Painted as DL&W 880 while at Steamtown

 The SD24 was first introduced in May of 1959 and was radically different from all previous SD models. It was the first SD model to be recognized as a Big Six (supercharged 2250+ hp C-C) as a result of being equipped with a turbocharger (an EMD first). The SD24's were equally at home hauling unit trains across the Western prairies, or pulling hot shot freights up and down the grades of Southern Railway's "Rat Hole Division" in Kentucky & Tennessee. Externally, the SD24 was very similar to it's predecessor's the SD7 and SD9, but had two external spotting features. The first was the bulge on the fireman's side behind the cab which housed the turbo blower. The second was the torpedo tube air reservoirs on the roof. This was necessitated by the optional 3,000 gallon fuel tank which every SD24 but one was built with. There were a total of 179 SD24's built during the period 7/58 to 3/63. In addition, the Union Pacific ordered 45 cabless SD24B's. 48 of the SD24's were of the high hood variety, going to the CB&Q and the Southern.

For those of you in the Midwest or traveling to that area, you have a chance to see not one, but two preserved SD24's. The first, painted in Fox River Valley colors and sub lettered WC is at the National Railway Museum in Green Bay, WI. The second is at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL and is currently undergoing restoration to return it to it's original CB&Q configuration. You can find specifications and drawings of the SD24 at http://www.irm.org/dieseldept/ and clicking on "Locomotive Tech. Data". Or you can click on "Restoration Projects" to see a very detailed article about the work being done on this locomotive.

Following is some technical data on the SD24:

 The Maryland Midland Railway (MMID) headquartered in Union Bridge, MD, operates 67 miles of track from Highfield to Emory Grove, MD (50 miles) and from Taneytown to Walkersville, MD. (17 miles). The 50-mile segment is part of the old Western Maryland mainline. They move over 6000 cars of freight a year. A large portion of this freight consists of cement, fertilizer and grain and as a result of this covered hoppers make up most of their freight cars. You can learn more about the MMID by going to their officieal website at mmidrwy.com.

The Fox River Valley operated approximately 114 miles of track from Granville to Green Bay, WI. It was purchased from the C&NW by Itel Rail Corporation in 1988. On 27 August 1993 it was sold to the Wisconsin Central and it and the Green Bay & Western were combined under the name Fox Valley & Western, which was a paper road only.

Drawing by Roland Ruesch (usloki.tripod.com)