I was able to trace this photo to Fort Lewis, WA, in the early 1980s. The GE centercab, USA 7144, was at the post from at least 1955 to the early 1990s. It became MRSR 500 for the Mount Rainier Scenic RR, then EPTC 800 for East Portland Traction Co. The other locomotive is Also S1 USA 7134 (s/n 69684, built March 1942). It went on to become Mount Rainier Scenic RR No. 42. The post railway is still active, but now with two GP10s, a GG20B, and two 3GS21Bs. Green Goats are unlikely to remain in the Army inventory so get your pictures while you can.

Cool detective work. It amazing what is out there kicking around and also how it bounces from one operation to another. I wonder what they were doing with the troop cars on their sides? Maybe they just knocked them over to get at the trucks or maybe they were for some sort of training.

I'm dying to see this photo but maybe something's wrong because I see no photo at all...

See this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27413

Ah, I remember that center cab well. I was stationed at Ft Lewis from 1963-64. The railroad battalion was stationed in our area of the post and the engine house only a couple of blocks away, so I got to know the personnel involved. The engines moved only rarely, mostly to assemble flat cars which would carry tanks and other vehicles to Needles, CA, for an annual desert training exercise. A couple of times I hitched a ride in the cab when they were doing track maintenance, but only when the Sergeant wasn't around.

Glad to hear that it's still in existence.

To the best of my knowledge, the only active duty railway operating battalion, the 714th, was stationed at Fort Eustis, VA, and it was inactivated in 1972. Other posts, such as Fort Lewis, often used to have a handful of military personnel assigned to operated the post utility railway, but definitely not a entire battalion's worth of soldiers. Those slots were converted to civilian manning by the mid-70s.