Milwaukee Road SDL39 581 became a regular on the Winona, MN-Eau Claire, WI branch by the early 1970s, replacing aging Alco RSC-2s. Milwaukee ended up with 10 of these units, nine of which made it to the Wisconsin Central after it was formed October 11, 1987. 581 is shown at the west end of Milwaukee's small Eau Claire yard. Typically an SW1 would handle much of the switching here while the SD would handle the road freight.
