Scratch one locomotive off the inventory of Minneapolis' assets.

In November, the city sold the lone switch-engine that ferried cars on seven tracks at its upper river port. The 47-year-old diesel-electric, rated at 1,200 horsepower, drew four bids and fetched $70,675.

"That's a reasonable price," said Aaron Isaacs, a local rail buff and editor of rail magazines.

Isaacs said the engine had a pretty easy life in recent years. "They weren't working it around the clock."

The sale is another harbinger of major change on the city's upper Mississippi riverfront. Along with an earlier sale of the city's diminutive towboat, the city is another step closer to closing the Upper Harbor Terminal, which sits on the West Bank almost opposite the Riverside Xcel power plant.

Several years ago, the city stopped pouring money into upgrading equipment at the terminal, where barges, trains and trucks have moved bulk goods such as fertilizer and coal since the 1960s. The city plans to transform the 48-acre site into a business park as part of a rebuilding of the upper riverfront.

The city already has ended barge traffic at the terminal with the closing of the Upper St. Anthony Lock and Dam pending no later than next June. Selling the locomotive means that all traffic in and out of the terminal will be by truck, according to Ann Calvert, a city development project coordinator.

The rust-speckled locomotive rattled with a cacophony of vibrating metal when it was in the hands of employees of River Services Inc., the private outfit that for years has operated the money-losing port for the city. Running the locomotive, which usually traveled little more than a city block in the course of a day of switching, was a plum job for terminal workers. Guided by switchmen over two-way radios, they deftly worked throttle and brakes to nudge hundreds of tons of equipment and freight, often just a few feet at a time.

The city bought the used locomotive in 1998. Despite its age, it can look forward to a working future, Isaacs said. The General Motors SW1200 built in 1967 was of a type that was the workhorse of switching yards, with some dating to the 1940s still in use. "If you maintain them, they last forever," Isaacs said.

The buyer, National Railway Equipment Inc. of Illinois, rehabilitates locomotives for resale or leasing. Isaacs said the locomotive likely will spend future years at a business such as a grain elevator or an ethanol plant, or even hauling a few passenger cars for a tourist railroad.

The locomotive is expected to sit for a few months at the terminal until it gets needed wheel-bearing work. Meanwhile, the city expects to release soon the results of studies that will define development scenarios for the business park, and costs for the streets, utilities and riverside parks. River Services will continue to manage the terminal for up to three years, overseeing rental of space and storage.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438

Twitter: @brandtstrib