There has been a very large 1941 vintage California-built Enterprise diesel engine listed on eBay for a while. Just wanted to mention it for the folks who participate on this discussion site that are also involved with marine museums out there. There weren't many diesel engine builders located in California. There were a number of photos posted with the listing. If the listing has not ended, you can find it on eBay by using the search string "Enterprise Diesel Engine", or by using the auction number, which is 310083599542. I am posting this as information only, I am not involved in the auction listing and do not know any details of the engine.

Here is a website that has some additional Enterprise Engine information:

http://www.tugboatenthusiastsociety.org ... ent-01.htm

PC

There's a railroad connection to Enterprise diesels: Western Pacific's car ferry "Las Plumas" had three straight-8 Enterprise engines. It's been 40 years since I crossed the Bay as a guest of the master (captain), so some of the details are hazy, but as I recall, the engines were a size or two too big to fit in a locomotive. I don't remember whether they were direct or electric drive. There were reports that "Las Plumas" was sold to a Puget Sound operator and worked in the Seattle area for a while. Not sure if she still exists.

Enterprise Diesels were interesting for their very "clean" but purposeful design. There was an obvious element of industrial styling to them, yet they were not overstated like some of the structurally enclosed 1930s and 1940s Fairbanks Morse diesels that looked a lot like misplaced convector radiators.

PC

Bob,

The Los Plumas still exists sort of. Several years ago she was sold up to British Columbia and still operates as a plain barge without the power plant.

A piece of her is a tank car used to contain bildge water and oil run off that is in the collection of Western Pacific freight cars at the Western Railway Museum.

I enjoy talking about it during my tours of Car Barn Three. Imagine, a rail car that went to sea.

And the Hercules that was replaced by Los Plumas is still on display at San Frnacisco Maritime National Park. She is due for a trip to the ship yard in a year or two if I recall correctly.

Ted miles

Back in the late 1940's the power grid in the remote area of N.E. Ore. where I live was still isolated from the rest of the world. My dad (this was 10 or 12 years before I was born) has talked about how the two small hydroelectric plants locally could barely carry the increasing load in the area, so a stationary diesel powered 1000KW generator set was installed and in use till eventually a transmission line was built into the area in the mid 50's. This generator unit was powered by an Enterprise engine which is especially remarkable in that the name of the town here is Enterprise. The foundations and part of the cooling tower are still in place along with 3 operators houses just up the street. I would have liked to have seen the engine. The installation was trackside on the local UP branch so fuel could be brought in by tank car.