And not too surprising. Compare NRE with how much EMD preserved in 98 years in the railway equipment building industry. Their usual contribution to documenting the retirement of a historic unit was to put a picture in the company newspaper of the locomotive being cut up.

At the 1947 (25th Anniversary) EMD Open House and Business Meeting, one of the items for discussion was the establishment of a company museum, starting with some of the impressive displays the corporation had assembled for the event. Nothing ever came of it, and now, 73 years later, the original plant no longer exists, the corporate identity is almost gone, and most of the people living in La Grange Illinois today can't tell you where the plant was or what they built there.

PC

"Good news for Chessie fans, the goal has been reached for funds to purchase Chessie 6955. Now the goal is to raise funds to ship her to the museum. Congratulations to the members of the CSR."
From a link posted on AOTT facebook from 11/07, the link is to that same gofundme.

Scrapping is ongoing as NRE prepares to close Silvis (Sam Foster photo):

Winding down at Silvis, the only noteworthy unit I saw left was an AT&SF original SD40; the description says there are F-units left but I didn't see them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALWD3h2qQ88
I'm curious if anyone would want the shop, which apparently did good work. Say, Iowa Interstate, whose main is near there and uses a small ex-CGW shop in Council Bluffs I believe, and whose predecessor, Rock Island, owned it prior to 1980.

I see 3 circa-1950 gondolas, what looks to be a 65-foot mill gondola with drop ends and two 52-foot cars -- I couldn't see if these have fixed or drop ends.

These look to be in relatively good condition in terms of their side sheets and side members. Few gondolas from this era have survived because they were really beat up and went right to scrap.

The Southern Michigan Railroad Society has one that they use as an open car: http://southernmichiganrailroad.com/abo ... ndola.html

In terms of locomotives, I see a former C&NW passenger service GP7 that retains a square box on its long hood that housed a DC generator to provide head-end-power commuter service coaches.

There are also several 89-foot flatcars may be of Trailer Train classes that are rare or otherwise lost.

The only F unit there was the front section of a CN Funit that was mostly cut up.
I was out there in January they sure were busy. Lots of interesting units but prices were a little bit higher than what they’re actually worth.

Here’s my album it’s on Facebook but it’s public:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4218697791478778&type=3

According to your album comments, apparently in there is a former EL SDP45-2 #3668, as UP #2768, one of the units that SP had turned into SD40-2s by Morrison-Knudson in the early nineties, which is a rare bird for sure. Not yet marked for scrap in January (and they wanted over $100k for it) but the time is near. Top photo DeAndre Walters, bottom Gil Ford.

Edit: I watched the video again and I don't see UP 2768. RIP.

It's still there, real hard to see it but around 7:19 into the video it's hidden between the sea of boxcars. Based on what they told me there, I don't think they have plans to scrap it immediately. They're keeping alot of the SD40s and up as cores for future rebuild projects, overseas sales or their leasing pool. Albeit that could change... still alot of Lewis bought locos to scrap.

Even with the flooded used six axle market, the asking price is way too high for the condition its currently in. Would be nice to save, allegedly there's another NREX owned former EL SDP45 (2772?) in Paducah, KY.

Excellent! Those units were very reliable, essentially the same as mid-1990s delivered SD40-2s, MK went through everything including the main generator, all of the brake system etc. in addition to rebuilding the engine, lopping off four cylinders in the process. MK reportedly lost money in the transaction, but the units kept SP afloat while they were waiting for a UP offer. So hopefully it will stick around until a preservation group can make an offer. NRE wanted $30k last year for the Chessie System GP30 that is now preserved in Ohio, which is roughly scrap value, but it had a bad turbo and some other things and was not a runner.


Ex-EL 3659, looks like it has been there for five years. An option to sweeten the deal might be to trade the rebuilt 16-645 for one of the old 20-645's in the remaining ex-SP SD45T-2s, those have never been rebuilt. NRE did that for IRM for its ex-Santa Fe SDP45-2, replacing both the engine and main generator with one out of an SP SD45T-2.

$100,000 is way to high. Union Pacific has locomotive auctions from time to time and SD40-2's and similar age locomotives were only reaching around 15-25 thousand. Unfortunately a good running six axle locomotive such as a SD40-2 will still cost you $100,000 or more if bought from a broker. Not sure what condition that locomotive is in but considering it's age, and the decline in DC powered locomotives $70,000 would be more reasonable if it was running. If it was not operational then $40,000 would be tops.

Don't forget the ongoing effort spearheaded by one of our chief forumites to save EL 3639:

https://fundrazr.com/locomotive?ref=ab_ ... 2BHYrPfkAd

Barring any major problems, the goal is to get the beast running.

There's a couple ex LV/D&H CP 7300s at NRE; that would be a good second generation save. Just imagine, a gleaming Cornell red engine at the RRMPA or some other such place. Some other good paint variations too.

Joshua

Might be a good fit for Amtrak: near a busy terminal, unlike Beech Grove, which only has the tri-weekly Cardinal able to bring cars and locomotives for work, and which they have contemplated vacating for some time. Not sure if there is enough space there though.

Until I visited Beech Grove earlier this year I just did not comprehend how large it was.
Dixmoor is tiny compared to Beech Grove.

The intermodal flat-cars at Silvis might be former Rock Island cars that were equipped with steam and signal lines for use on the head-end of the Des Moines Rocket. The caption for a 1982 photo of one of these cars has additional information: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckzeiler/35979562010/

Does anyone here have (or have links to) for recent photos of these cars? So far, the best images come from glimpses in drone footage.