Soo Line Historical and Technical Society

Holy Moses!

by Todd Brown

Easter Sunday 2003 in North Fond du Lac was made especially memorable for me by the sighting of a Norfolk Southern high-nose GP-38-2 on my way home from Easter dinner in my hometown. Although my current residence is in Middleton, WI, I swung by the Subway Road grade crossing to catch any switching action at the very northern end of the classfication yard before I jumped on HWY 151 south.

The sighting of #5003 was a new addition to my railroading "life list" of motive power (yes, you can consider me a RR geek). Having only seen such models in magazines, and being a fan of the SOO GP-38-2 fleet, the sight of a high-nose GP-38-2 which I would have only expected to find years ago on the east coast, was a great way to cap the weekend.

#5003 was first sighted switching with 2 WC SD-45s and an "oddball" SD-40-2. After finishing their tasks, the units hooked up with four other locomotives that emerged from behind a long cut of cars and headed to the locomotive facility and sanding tower.

The site of Norfolk Southern motive power on the WC in NFDL and the CP in Portage (and all along the way) has been an increasingly popular site over the past several months. Although most of the NS motive power is in the form of Dash-9s, Sunday prooved that there is always hope for finding that black diamond in the ruff.

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