Chicago & Northwestern (CNW) 6847 - EMD SD40-2

during RPO weekend.

Trailing behind CNW #6801 was CNW SD40-2 #6847 as the pair rolled through what appears to be flat Illinois farmland. No exact date, location or photographer was given for the photo from an original color negative.

Here is another view of CNW SD40-2 #6801 and #6847 rolling through what appears to be a flat Illinois farmland scene. No exact date, location or photographer was given for the photo from an original color negative.

CNW 6847 at IRM.

CNW 6847 at IRM.

...a power set found idling outside any yard office in towns across Illinois and Iowa in the 1980s. Just a few subtle clues give it away, like the ditch lights on 6847, missing rear numberboards on 7009 and the cab heralds that look too good for the rest of the paint.

This is pretty much what got me into trains when I was little.

C&NW 6847 now resides at the Illinois Railway Museum

My wife and I would soon get on board and take the ride out and back on IRM's short stretch of preserved Elgin & Belvidere Electric trackage. This ended up being the only trip we had time for this day, as it was a cool day for mid-August and she needed to go to the car and warm up (despite having one of my hoodies!).

Low 'n' wide with the GoPro.

After only getting a distant shot of this locomotive's long hood end on my only prior visit to IRM in 2014, I wanted to make sure to get a good look at it this time. Growing up in Madison, WI in the 1990s, the C&NW SD40-2 would have been common power, but the only other one documented in my collection is a photo of 6886 when it led the 1994 Circus World Museum circus train. I'm glad UP donated one to be "de-patched." Its faded and weathered "old yellow" paint probably looks much the same as it did during its last decade or so of service on the "Cheap & Nothing Wasted."

CNW 6847

CNW 6847

CNW 6847

CNW 6847

CNW 6847

CNW 6847

CNW 6847 sits at the IRM.