Cedar

CSLP GP9 No. 1601 “Cedar” — A Working Life in Steel

Built in June 1958 by EMD at La Grange, GP9 No. 1601 is a classic Phase II Geep, born in an era when railroads expected locomotives to work hard, age slowly, and earn their keep for decades. From the beginning, Cedar’s career was firmly rooted in the American West. His earliest years were spent on the Pacific & Tillamook Railway in Oregon, where he wore moss green paint and earned the nickname “The Cliff Runner” hauling road locals, port transfers, and seasonal log trains over coastal grades and tight curves.

In the mid-1970s, the locomotive moved north to Washington’s Columbia Foothills & Western, becoming CFW 181. There, Cedar settled into paper mill service, grain elevator shuttles, and rural locals out of Chehalis. A fog-shrouded photograph of him crossing a trestle with a three-car local—published in Railfan & Railroad in August 1981—cemented his reputation as a quintessential shortline workhorse of the era. By the late 1980s, he headed south again, joining the Redwood Northern Railway in Northern California as RN 72, where he hauled timber reloads, battered boxcars, and the occasional chemical tank to the SP interchange.

It was on the Redwood Northern that Cedar received one of his most distinctive features. After a minor wreck and a shoestring rebuild, a full-height high short hood salvaged from another GP9 was grafted onto the locomotive. The modification improved visibility in fog and timber country and gave the engine a striking, old-school profile that crews came to appreciate. RN 72 survived washouts, the catastrophic 1995 mill fire, and the railroad’s gradual decline before being sold in 1999 as finances tightened.

Renumbered CRSX 1601, Cedar spent the next decade roaming the West as part of the Cascade Rail Services lease fleet. He worked timber lines, industrial shortlines, and paper mills in Washington, Oregon, and California—always dependable, never flashy. A heat-distorted photograph taken during this period sparked a long-running railfan myth that the locomotive had briefly been chopped to a low nose, a rumor that persisted for years despite being entirely false. Through all of his lease assignments, Cedar retained his high hood and his reputation for reliability.

Cedar arrived on the Clearwater, Seeley Lake & Pacific in 2008 still wearing lease gray and still carrying that classic high-nose silhouette. After more than a decade of faithful service, CSLP purchased the locomotive outright in 2019, trading off two older heritage units to secure a proven performer. In 2020—after increasing visibility concerns on tight industrial trackage—the CSLP made the difficult but practical decision to chop Cedar’s nose, giving him the modern profile he carries today. Now painted in CSLP black and yellow, Cedar remains the heart of daily operations, equally at home switching Blue Star Park, handling the Lake Turn, or representing the railroad as its most recognizable—and beloved—locomotive.