Minneapolis & St. Louis Diesel Roster (All-Time)

Published: October 27, 2026

The Minneapolis & St. Louis dieselized a 1,400-mile granger with a small fleet and kept it small. The table lists 97 locomotives, each frame once. Switchers began arriving in 1938. Thirty-five Alco RS-1s became the local freight engine. Eight F7As, six F3As, and a handful of FTs and F2s handled the road freights. Two SD7s were the only six-axle diesels. The last new power was fourteen GP9s, 700–713, in the fall of 1958.

Minneapolis and St. Louis GP9 604 with matching hoppers at Marshalltown, Iowa, circa 1957

A Minneapolis & St. Louis publicity photograph of new GP9 604 with matching hoppers at Marshalltown, Iowa, circa 1957. A few years later the Peoria Gateway was acquired by the Chicago & North Western.

On this page: At a glance · Switchers · Road locomotives · Roster · Gas-electrics

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Minneapolis & St. Louis. Mark MSTL. Company history
Locomotives	97 frames, each once
Alco	38. One HH660, one HH1000, one S-2, and 35 RS-1s
Baldwin	2 VO-1000s
Electro-Motive	54. Switchers 6, covered wagons 23, SD7s 2, GP9s 23
General Electric	3 44-tonners
First diesels	SC D-438 and the two NW1s, 1938
Last new locomotives	GP9s 700–713, September and October 1958
Gas-electrics	11 cars, GE-1 through GE-4 and GE-25 through GE-31. Not in the 97
Six-axle	SD7s 852 and 952, later 300 and 301. The only six-axle diesels

Switchers

The first internal-combustion power was not a diesel. Electro-Motive gas-electric cars, numbered in a GE series, arrived from December 1929 into 1931. Eleven of them, GE-1 through GE-4 and GE-25 through GE-31, covered the local passenger runs once the North Star Limited was gone. They are listed after the locomotives. They are not in the 97.

Diesel switchers started in 1938. SC D-438, built in April 1938 as Electro-Motive demonstrator 637, became Minneapolis & St. Louis 60. SW D-838 followed in September. Two NW1s, D-538 and D-738, came in June and August of the same year. Two NW2s, D-139 in May 1939 and D-740 in August 1940, were later 100 and 101. Alco’s contribution was an HH660 and an HH1000 in 1939 and S-2 D-741 in August 1941, later 102. Baldwin sent VO-1000 D-340 in April 1940 and D-145 in November 1944. Three General Electric 44-tonners, D-742 and D-842 in September 1942 and D-149 in November 1948, finished the switcher fleet. Under the North Western the 44-tonners were 10, 11, and 12.

Road locomotives

The railroad had asked, early in the 1940s, for five 2-6-6-4s. The War Production Board assigned FT freight diesels instead. Four FTA cabs, 445A, 445C, 545A, and 545C, and two FTB boosters, 445B and 545B, arrived in April 1945. In November 1946 Electro-Motive added an F2 set, cabs 147A and 147C and booster 147B. Six F3As came in March 1948: 248A and 248C, 348A and 348C, 448A and 448C. Eight F7As followed, four in November 1949, two more that same month, and 151A and 151C in December 1950. After the North Western took the property on November 1, 1960, the F3As and F7As were renumbered into the 400s. A 1961 photograph of F7 408 is one of those later numbers. The FTs and the F2s were traded in on GP9s.

The engine that actually replaced the local steam jobs was the RS-1. Thirty-five of them arrived between February 1944 and September 1951, numbered in the scattered series the railroad liked, from 146 up through the 1200s. They were later 200–234 on the North Western, with one gap. The two SD7s, 852 and 952, came in December 1952 and were renumbered 300 and 301. They were the only six-axle diesels on the roster. Both went on, still as 300 and 301 and then as 6620 and 6621, to the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern.

GP9s closed the buying. Nine arrived in 1956 and 1957 as 600–608. Fourteen more, 700–713, came in September and October 1958. No. 604, at Marshalltown with a new cut of hoppers, is the photograph above. There was no order after that. The Chicago & North Western acquired the locomotives with the railroad.

Roster

The table lists 97 diesel locomotives. Each frame is one row. A Chicago & North Western number is in the notes, not a second line. Builder number is the construction number. Where that number was not carried in a form that matches the quantity, the cell is blank.

American Locomotive (Alco)

Model	Road Number	Qty	Date	Builder Number	Notes
HH660	D-939	1	9/1939	69089	Later 66.
HH1000	D-539	1	5/1939	69093	Later 92.
S-2	D-741	1	8/1941	69531	Later 102.
RS-1	244, 744, 944	3	2/1944, 10/1944	71317, 71434, 71436	Later 200–202.
RS-1	1044, 1144	2	12/1944, 1/1945	73093, 73097	Later 203 and 204.
RS-1	645, 745	2	4/1945, 6/1945	73334, 73759	Later 205 and 206.
RS-1	845, 945	2	10/1945, 9/1945	74317–74318	Later 207 and 208.
RS-1	146, 246, 346	3	12/1945	74821, 74822, 74824	Later 209–211.
RS-1	446	1	1/1946	74909	Later 212.
RS-1	546, 646, 746, 846, 946, 1046	6	6/1946–9/1946	75113–75118	Later 213–218.
RS-1	547	1	5/1947	75390	Later 219.
RS-1	948, 1048, 1148	3	9/1948–10/1948	76207–76209	Later 221 and 222. One of the three did not take a North Western number.
RS-1	849, 949, 1049, 1149, 1249	5	12/1949, 1/1950–2/1950	77842–77846	Later 223–227.
RS-1	950, 1050, 1150	3	9/1950	78243–78245	Later 228–230.
RS-1	1250	1	9/1950	78373	Later 231.
RS-1	751	1	9/1951	79235	Later 232.
RS-1	851, 951	2	9/1951	79346–79347	Later 233 and 234.

Baldwin

Model	Road Number	Qty	Date	Builder Number	Notes
VO-1000	D-340	1	4/1940	62334	Sold before the merger.
VO-1000	D-145	1	11/1944	70302	Later 103.

Electro-Motive

Model	Road Number	Qty	Date	Builder Number	Notes
SC	D-438	1	4/1938	637	Built as Electro-Motive demonstrator 637. Later 60.
SW	D-838	1	9/1938	749	Later 61.
NW1	D-538, D-738	2	6/1938, 8/1938	788, 829	Later 90 and 91.
NW2	D-139, D-740	2	5/1939, 8/1940	844, 1135	Later 100 and 101.
FTA	445A, 445C, 545A, 545C	4	4/1945	—	Traded in on GP9s.
FTB	445B, 545B	2	4/1945	—	Traded in on GP9s.
F2A	147A, 147C	2	11/1946	3660–3661	Traded in on GP9s.
F2B	147B	1	11/1946	3662	Traded in on a GP9.
F3A	248A, 248C, 348A, 348C, 448A, 448C	6	3/1948	4948–4953	Later 400–405.
F7A	150A, 150C, 250A, 250C	4	11/1949	8255–8258	Later 406–409.
F7A	350A, 350C	2	11/1949	9225–9226	Later 410 and 411.
F7A	151A, 151C	2	12/1950	12027–12028	Later 412 and 413.
SD7	852, 952	2	12/1952	17408–17409	Later 300 and 301.
GP9	600–602	3	11/1956	22820–22822	Later 4502, 4302, and 4303.
GP9	603–605	3	3/1957	22881–22883	Later 4304–4306.
GP9	606–608	3	7/1957–10/1957	22983, 22982, 22984	Later 4308, 4307, and 4309.
GP9	700–702	3	9/1958–10/1958	24755–24757	Later 4509, 4512, and 4513.
GP9	703	1	10/1958	24758	Did not take a North Western number.
GP9	704–706	3	10/1958	24759–24761	Later 4510, 4511, and 4507.
GP9	707–708	2	10/1958	24762–24763	—
GP9	709–710	2	10/1958	24764–24765	—
GP9	711–712	2	10/1958	24766–24767	—
GP9	713	1	10/1958	24768	Later 4506.

General Electric

Model	Road Number	Qty	Date	Builder Number	Notes
44-ton	D-742, D-842	2	9/1942	15122, 15224	Later 10 and 11.
44-ton	D-149	1	11/1948	29994	Later 12.

Gas-electrics

Eleven gas-electric cars handled the locals. They are not locomotives, and they are not in the 97. GE-1, named Peoria, came in December 1929. The last of the group arrived in July 1931. The railroad also tried Budd Rail Diesel Cars on Minneapolis–Des Moines service in the late 1950s and did not keep the experiment. No road numbers for those cars are on this list.

Type	Road Number	Qty	Date	Builder Number	Notes
Gas-electric	GE-1	1	12/1929	438	Peoria.
Gas-electric	GE-2, GE-3	2	1/1930	439–440	New Ulm and Oskaloosa.
Gas-electric	GE-25, GE-26	2	10/1930, 11/1930	448–449	Albert Lea and Fort Dodge.
Gas-electric	GE-27, GE-28	2	10/1930, 11/1930	450–451	Des Moines and Watertown.
Gas-electric	GE-4	1	7/1931	494	—
Gas-electric	GE-29	1	7/1931	491	Montgomery.
Gas-electric	GE-30, GE-31	2	7/1931	491	—

Sources

X2200 South, issue 99. Class, road numbers, dates, and builder numbers.
Withers, Paul. Chicago & North Western. The merger numbers.

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