Great Northern Railway S-2 4-8-4 2584 in the Mallet House at Superior, Wisconsin on June 17, 1958

Built in 1930 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the Class S-2 4-8-4 steam locomotive was the pride of the Great Northern Railway's motive power fleet and powered the famed "Empire Builder" passenger trains that ran between St. Paul and Seattle.

When diesels replaced steam on the line, a handful of the steamers were saved for a time in case of a national emergency. Of those, an even smaller percentage eventually wound up on display in parks along the GN mainline. GN 2584 was retired from service in December 1957. It was one of three S-2s that ran their last miles during 1956. The other two were GN 2577 and GN 2580. GN 2584 was selected to become one of the park engines while the other two were scrapped in 1962 and 1963, respectively.

On March 21, 1958 the 2584 was designated to be saved and subsequently stored at Superior, Wisconsin for future historical purposes. This image shows the 80-inch-drivered locomotive in serviceable condition, freshly painted, and cleaned, parked inside the Mallet House at Superior in track stall number 18. The light streaking in from the right front of the engine is coming from the open doorway of stall 18, that led directly outside to Superior's Dirt House. So this shot shows the locomotive about three months into its peaceful stay at Superior. The locomotive was eventually taken to Havre, Montana where it was put on permanent display near the passenger depot on May 15, 1964.

Diesel-powered Empire Builder passenger trains have passed by this display engine every day since May 15, 1964, including those operated by Great Northern, Burlington Northern and even today's Amtrak. With Havre being a station stop and crew-change point, virtually anyone who cared to step off of these trains to take a few pictures during the break, could have easily done so over the last 53 years—likely making GN 2584 the most-photographed GN steam locomotive of all time. That's at Havre anyway.

Pictures of the old girl inside the roundhouse at Superior are a little harder to come by since the lighting was often not-conducive to good photographs—especially on color film from that era. But she was here for well over 6 years. When visiting this facility to take pictures, everyone who worked in the shop would tell you, "Don't miss our S2 over in the Mallet House, she's a gem!"

Indeed.

Here's another shot that shows the Mallet House in the background. Just to the right of BN green SD9 6107 is a dark, open doorway with a large silver, sliding door. This is the same doorway I mentioned above: www.flickr.com/photos/jeff_lemke/31555760404/in/album-721...

Taken on: February 28, 2017

Tags:

Twin

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History

Jeff

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S-2

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Superior

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1958 « less

Sets appears in: • Great Northern Railway • Steam in the Twin Ports more » • Superior, Wisconsin • Belknap Roundhouse « less

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