The S2 Great Northern

The Great Northern Railway S2  4-8-4

In 1930 Baldwin locomotive works supplied 14 high speed passenger locomotives to the Great Northern Railway. These fast and massive looking type S2 4-8-4's serviced one of the most remembered names in passenger train travel, "The Empire Builder".

Originating in Chicago IL, the "Empire Builder" operated on Great Northern track from Minneapolis MS across the great plains and Cascade mountains to Seattle WA. (The name and route remains in use today by AMTRAK.) The S2's where the last steam locomotives in express passenger service for the Great Northern before Diesels took over. Engine 2584 (pictured above) is the sole survivor of the series and remains on public display in the remote town of Havre / Montana.

Aster Hobby Co. Inc. of Japan is now manufacturing the legendary # 2584, decorated in its famous "Glacier Park" paint scheme. Locomotive # 2575, which was the first of the 14 S2's delivered to the Great Northern will be produced in black livery (as eventually all of them ended up when demoted to freight service).