Talk:EMD SDL39

Final Disposition?
I've seen videos on Youtube of the SDL39s working in South America. Is this where they ended up after the Wisconsin Central was purchased? --76.239.3.132 15:28, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Yes. As mentioned in the article, they went to Chile. Chile is still in South America the last I checked.Ken (talk) 20:15, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Soo didn't sell these to the Wisconsin Central
They were leased by and the Soo returned them to the lessor after storing them at Shoreham in the spring of 1986 to protect against major failures that they'd be on the hook for. Their general manager-equipment, Larry Bell, stated in the November 1986 issue of Trains Magazine that Soo wasn't interested in retaining them because of their non-standard trucks (As well as confirming that they had been parked earlier in the year, as I said).

Wisconsin Central wasn't formed until April 1987. They just happened to be available at the right time and at the right price when they were looking for power, allowing them to continue to operate on the former Milwaukee branch from Milwaukee to to Green Bay, along with the original Soo lines that formed the bulk of the Wisconsin Central like the old Soo main line from Forest Park to Minneapolis (The Soo keeping the superior Milwaukee route).

Except perhaps at their new home after Wisconsin Central disappeared and they were exported, they were never railroad owned. They were leased from day 1 when they appeared on the Milwaukee Road and continued to be owned by a leasing company throughout their Soo, Wisconsin Central, and final days on the Canadian National before they were quickly returned to the lessor after the WC acquisition.

That's why they never were in any of the Canadian National auctions of surplus WC power, for instance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.249.6.209 (talk) 19:00, 9 January 2017 (UTC)