GP9s were reserved for especially long trains from what I recall. The longest Soo Line era train I saw was 20 cars long plus a caboose, with most of the cars covered hoppers with salt for International Salt/AKZO Salt.
The first photo shows a GP9 at C&E Junction where the Bloomingdale Line joined the C&E in Kingsbury Street, before this section of Kingsbury was vacated by the City of Chicago for General Iron.
The second photo is probably an empty boxcar from Midwest Zinc being shoved back onto the rest of the train. Looks like the rest of the train has loads for AKZO Salt and Big Bay Lumber.
