With a pair of SD45s churning their collective 40 cylinders, a Wisconsin Central “all-rail” taconite ore load slowly climbs to the top of Byron Hill at Byron, Wisconsin, on March 23, 1996. WC No. 6498 is the former BN/WC No. 6677 and Frisco No. 929 built in September 1969, and showing just a hint of SLSF Mandarin orange on the roofline. This unit carries one of WC’s early attempts at the maroon and gold scheme, complete with V-stripes, before they settled on their standard scheme. With the Great Lakes frozen, the taconite is from the Iron Range in Minnesota and Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range, with middle man WC handing it off to the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern for forwarding to the steel mills.
