In case anybody’s interested in the Missabe Route -
I stopped-into Proctor, MN to check-up on the former DM&IR yard and
shops there, and I saw several Bessemer & Lake Erie SD’s parked
with the Missabe tunnel motors on the shop tracks this Sat. They
looked like SD40’s (not “-2s” however), but couldn’t tell for certain. One
had the Bessemer logo painted-out under the cab with “DMIR”
stencilled over. I didn’t see any CN units but the local hobby shop
informed me that CN units have started to operate ore trains to/from
Duluth. CN has also started laying people off and transferring others,
but I imagine that’s old news. The Bessemer units were in the orange
livery (that I always tend to confuse initially with MILW colors).
DMIR/B&LE power swaps were not uncommon going back to the steam era as both were owned by US Steel. In the diesel era, excess DMIR SD9’s were usually transferred to B&LE and EJ&E. More recently, some SD’s also wound up on Union and Birmingham Southern, also US Steel roads. There have recently been some 3-way trades of SD38’s among DMIR, EJ&E and B&LE.
DMIR and B&LE are both now part of CN.
B&LE units are/ and have never not been, common on the DMIR. Back in the 50’s, the B&LE lent them some F units. Currently on the Missabe roster (from the B&LE, owned by the DMIR) is an SD38, and an SD40T-3, classified by the DMIR as SD40-3’s. They are also some others transferred by CN. Although the CN owns both, they basically operate by themselves, mostly same crews and such. However, the dispatchers for the Missabe were moved from Keenan to Stevens Point.
Any DMIR questions, just ask me!
Im kinda a fanatic.