The F9 locomotive was built in 1956 by the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of General Motors as N.P. 7010D (builder’s number 21105), part of a 4-unit set for freight service. F9 locomotives first went into service on the NP in 1954, assigned to the tough hill between Livingston and Bozeman. By the mid-1960s, N.P. needed more passenger locomotives, but by then, the F9 was no longer available for purchase as a new locomotive, so the N.P. converted this unit by adding a steam heat boiler for passenger use. Because there was no room for a water tank, piping was added to draw water from other units, or from a tank in the baggage car. Thus the unit was renumbered and became 6703-A. As a passenger unit at the time of the 1970 B.N. merger, it was renumbered again to B.N. 9812. It was again converted to freight service with the removal of the steam boiler and became B.N. 778. It was last used in revenue freight service in 1981 before serving as a power car for a rotary snowplow. The engine has been repainted in its original Northern Pacific color scheme.
