| Ex-Chicago Rock Island and Pacific GP7 #1255 (EMD 7/1952)....in 1975 the financially weak CRI&P signed an agreement with a rebuilding company named Precision National Corporation (PNC) whereby the rebuilding company would purchase worn-out GP7 locomotives (mostly of RI heritage) and contract with several firms to rebuild them. When completed they were designated GP7R and all of them were leased back to the RI. PNC had leased a portion of the Rock Island's Silvis IL facility to do the mechanical and electrical work on several of the engines, including #1225 in 1976. The biggest visual change was the bright blue & white ROCK scheme plus renumbering to 4250. When the railroad shut down in 1980 the fleet was returned to Precision National by court order and PNC chose to put most of them up for sale. In early 1981 Chicago & North Western bought 109 of them including 4250 and assigned them to local and yard work. Renumbered #4174 it stayed in service for successor Union Pacific until sale to Larry's Truck and Electric in 1997. Nittany and Bald Eagle purchased the engine as-is the following year and immediately placed it in service. NBER shop forces chopped the nose in 2015 but surprisingly simply touched up the CNW green and yellow colors. |