Note that I have no financial interest in this auction, only a historical one.

The former American Car & Foundry rail car plant in Milton, Pa. is being shuttered and liquidated by new owner Greenbrier Rail Car. In its last decades the plant primarily produced and repaired tank cars. It had reopened after a previous closure during the shale oil and fracking boom, but has now been shuttered for good.

A three-day plant auction, live and online, is scheduled for July 28-30th. Information at:

https://bid.yellowtagauctions.com/cgi-b ... ellowtag55

On-site viewing, for any intrepid browsers, will be on July 22-24.

The lots in this massive auction range from three nicely refurbished GE 45-ton locomotives with siderod drive (and a Trackmobile with one bad tie rod) to massive lathes and presses, from random tools and gauges (many vintage enough to be still in well-worn wooden cases) to new railroad car parts (brake shoes, hand grabs, brake wheels, handbrake ratchet mechanisms, etc.), from welders aplenty to a push broom, from drink mix to the cranes and forklifts you will need to get this stuff out!

Two of the three locomotive lots (all July 30th) are thorough enough to include serial numbers. All are in potentially the best condition of any GE 45-tonners extant, recently refurbished with Cummins engines and interior and exterior cosmetic work.

The online catalogs are up now; online bidding starts Tuesday the 14th.

Bad news: 5.5% sales tax, 18% buyer's premium. Then you have to figure out how to get it out and home.

Good news: I haven't found a lot yet with anything more than a $25 starting bid.

A warning that many, MANY items are categorized incorrectly for some reason; several lots of center plates for trucks got categorized as "Restaurant & Bar Equipment," as were welding tables.

I have posted this just in case there might be either a commercial outfit friendly to preservation causes that can find something useful here (Strasburg?) or a rail preservation entity that can find "the answer to their prayers" in here. (Maybe a loco to trade with an industry for the locally historic one they're using?)

One thing I have not located yet among the thousands of lots: the replica of "ACF's First Tank Car," a short vintage flat car with wooden vats atop it that sat outside the main office entrance for decades. I don't know if it's being promised locally. There is a local rail museum operated by the Central Pa. Chapter NRHS across the river and to the north at White Deer, which received the donation of a tank car and ex-PRR boxcar from the plant in the late 1980s. I have no idea if they're up for getting one of the locos or that tank car replica.
UPDATE: I've been reliably informed that the tank car replica in question has been removed to a nearby rural town for "restoration/refurbishment"; by whom and for what long-term objective or location we don't know.

Updating this only to point out that MAYBE that critter in your back lot may be worth something more than you think...... or, if you had designs on getting that local industry's 45-tonner donated to your museum, you may have to think again at least if they're operable.

The oldest and most worn of these locos, #7, built Feb 1942, refurbished by GE August 1954 and again in Nov. 1989, supposedly in need of wheelset replacement and still with one original GE builders plate, fetched $21,750.

#8, a newer postwar 45-tonner with newer Cummins engines and refurbished by GE at Pittsburgh in Jan. 1967 and still sporting 50-year-old GE electricals, brought $24,000.

#9, obviously refurbished (reportedly by McHugh) in rather recent years and almost shiny enough to eat off of, brought $31,500.

A spare 1980-vintage Cummins N855 diesel-generator set, the standard refit for these locos these days, brought $1,700.

None of those prices include 18% buyer's premium or 6% sales tax. Once you add those in, the worn one was $26,970 and the nice one $39,060.

There's some speculation that McHugh Locomotive may have acquired all three; at least one bidder had asked for a moving quote for all three locos.

These high prices dashed the hopes of the nearby NRHS Chapter of buying one to preserve a local locomotive, although years ago a 1924 Milton-built tank car and PRR "wagontop" boxcar was donated to them from this plant. There's some hope that they may be able to salvage usable track material (switches, frogs, compromise joints, etc.) from the plant's final demolition and scrapping.

One rail equipment trucker informed me he was asked for a quote to truck one of the locos all the way to Washington State(!).

Someone in the industry, asking not to be named, told me bluntly: "Think about it. If you can find an end-cab EMD switcher in decent shape, it's $100-150K and uses too much fuel just for switching a few cars around. A decent, reliable Shuttlewagon or Trackmobile runs you $200-300K new, $50-100K used. Alcos are their own cult. The 44-tonners are shot unless you drop new engines in them; the bigger GE industrial switchers aren't around or use obsolete parts. Why do you think you see some of these feed mills and the like grabbing used GE Dash Seven and Eight road engines?"

Funny, it turns out they had a Trackmobile, too--busted tie rod, went for $10,250:

https://www.bidspotter.com/en-us/auctio ... f3015b608c

I recently had 2 GE 45 ton locomotives for sale and had to fight to get $20,000 out of each of them, both had newer replacement engines and good wheels, not saying they did not need work.

Considering that these locomotives were in need of wheels and have to be trucked anywhere they go, the prices paid for them were too high.

I recently talked with a dealer that was looking for a set of trucks for a GE 45 ton with side rods and the truck mounted brake cylinders and he still is.

He has a shop to mount wheels and told me that the new wheels for these locomotives are $3,100 per wheel. He went on to tell me that, mounting 8 new wheels and the related work to do it, would cost close to $40,000.

I guess what you pay is up to the purchaser and it takes at least 2 parties bidding to get them to that price.

I purchased a 1962 built GE 50 ton with side rods several years ago, it took me 3 years to sell it. I will not purchase one again on speculation.

Jamie Haislip was the successful bidder on the best of the three locomotives. He plans to truck it to the Walkersville Southern where he has three GE 44-ton locomotives already.

On the topic of GE 45 tonners, the NRHS chapter based out of Richmond, VA was recently donated one of these locomotives. According to their website, "On Saturday, June 13, 2020, the [Old Dominion] Chapter accepted the generous donation of an operable GE 45-ton locomotive from the AdvanSix corporation in Hopewell. The industrial switcher had many years of experience moving coal hoppers at the former Cogentrix generating plant which closed in 2019. Once loaded onto a low boy trailer, the ODC's newest piece of rolling stock made the 35 mile trek to its forever home at Hallsboro yard."

https://olddominionchapter.com/News/9069241

On Walkersville Southern (MD) today: https://www.facebook.com/WalkersvilleSo ... =3&theater

Does anyone know who bought the spare Cummins engine? It went cheap ($1,700) before taxes and fees.

Update from trucking company Daily Express:

"On 8-12, ACF #7 was moved to Hollidaysburg, PA.

ACF #8 is scheduled to be moved to Lowville, NY in mid-August."

Put to use already:

Okay, so was the price worth it?

What's more cost-effective:
*A loco donated in inoperable condition, takes $10K to move it, and sits for a year while who-knows-how-much is "spent" on parts, labor, volunteer time, paint, etc. to make it operable and presentable; or
*A loco that costs $45,000 in purchase and transport, and starts earning revenue and publicity within seconds of rolling off the truck?

(Note: The WSRR has several other locos at their disposal, including another 45-tonner....)

From a friend that restore old Mopars;

"The first hulk you buy and restore and when finished you look back and realize how much you spent on it. The next one you buy restored by someone else."

Anyone care to clue some of us in as to what operation is in Hollidaysburg, PA. and in Lowville, NY?

Everett Railroad is in Hollidaysburg, PA; there are a number of shortlines in the Lowville NY area including the Lowville and Beaver River (mostly out of service), the Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad, and I believe the Adirondack RR is in the area, but I have not seen evidence that any of these railroads received another GE (Everett Railroad hasn't updated their facebook page since March 15, when they cancelled all passenger operations).

It might also be going to an industrial operation -- in the last year, I've seen two or three articles about factory/former paper plants in the area changing hands and reopening. There is also a big Kraft foods plant that is just past the end of track in Lowville.