| Illinois Central SD40R 6071, seen here on a southbound grain train at Hammond, Louisiana with the 6003, was a locomotive celebrity. It had been built in July 1964 as EMD 434 and was the very first locomotive to use EMD’s model 645E prime mover. The 434 and pre-production SD40 testbed units 434A-434H were built on SD35 frames, so they were five feet shorter than production SD40 units. The 434 was sold to the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio in May 1966 to replace wrecked GP35 614 and it became GM&O 950, then ICG 6071 and finally IC 6071. The Canadian National donated it to the MONTICELLO RAILWAY MUSEUM in March 2009. |