San Antonio Railroad Heritage Museum acquires USAX 1682

Andrew Przybyla · **Joined:** Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:13 pm **Posts:** 5

Our friends down in Elmendorf have purchased their first locomotive, an army 80 ton GE, for $2,500. It's currently in Utah, no idea how much it's gonna cost to get it shipped over here.

https://www.facebook.com/SARHMinc/

Dennis Daugherty · **Joined:** Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:54 pm **Posts:** 106

The GE Industrial 80 ton locomotives are really good locomotives for slower speed switching and light tourist railway service. Very easy to maintain usually equipped with a Cummins Truck Style engines . The ex-military locomotives are usually well maintained with low mileage.
Having be involved in moving dozens of pieces of rail equipment by rail, truck or ships I would recommend finding a heavy haul trucking company with a detachable gooseneck trailer with sufficient deck length when placing rails on the deck and just ramp the locomotive on and off the trailer. In California I have moved the same 80 ton locomotive with this method saving a lot of money as not having to use cranes. In Utah there is Intermountain Rigging and Hauling they have move a lot of rail equipment.
The least expensive is to try to find a trucking company looking for a back haul so you will only have to pay for one way. Also there are trucking Brokers that specialize in lining up back hauls so shopping around will save money. I would think trucking would be in the 10k to 15K range at least. Rail Flatcar shipments are now very expensive plus the cost of cranes and loaded securement.
PM me if you need more advise.

Andrew Przybyla · **Joined:** Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:13 pm **Posts:** 5

I'm not involved with SARHM, Dennis, but you can contact them through their Facebook if you'd like; I'm sure they'd appreciate your advice.

QJdriver · **Posted:** Tue Apr 27, 2021 2:37 pm

I can heartily recommend Daily Express, of Carlisle, PA. They have a lowboy with rails and a flip down loading ramp, and run nationwide. If you don't have to move the engine right away, they very well might be able to cut you a deal on a backhaul.

Best of luck to you. Sorry, no fb here, but this is good advice.

nedsn3 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:36 pm

Why not keep it simple? The Army has a flat car with ramps that they use to move their own 80 tonners between bases. Why not rent that?

QJdriver · **Posted:** Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:19 pm

Renting that flatcar might have possibilities, especially if you're talking about a non profit wanting to move a locomotive between two points on the Union Pacific. In such cases Uncle Pete has been known to donate shipping in return for a write off, maybe other roads would as well. It certainly couldn't hurt to ask.

garyrsatx · **Posted:** Tue May 11, 2021 11:57 am

nedsn3 wrote:

Why not keep it simple? The Army has a flat car with ramps that they use to move their own 80 tonners between bases. Why not rent that?

Do you know who we’d need to contact?

Gary Rodriguez
San Antonio Railroad Heritage Museum

nedsn3 · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2021 12:36 pm

Gary- No but it should be fairly easy to make some phone calls. Start with the Transportation office at Fort Sam Houston there in San Antonio. Or if you bought it from the Army, ask the point of contact. He/they should or might know. Ned

Emmo213 · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2021 2:01 pm

$2,500 for an operable locomotive? Dang.

J.David · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2021 10:32 pm

Greetings:
I can certainly recommend Dennis Daugherty for advice/help with moving your 80 tonner, he loaded and tied down the 80 tonner that Valley Railroad (USAF #1606) we bought in Utah before shipping costs via rail became prohibitive.
J.David

PrrOpCrew · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2021 12:43 pm

Posted yesterday on facebook they changed their mind about receiving the locomotive after an inspection revealed the locomotive to be in worse shape than they thoughts.

Post here: https://www.facebook.com/SARHMinc/

Quote:

It is with great disappointment that I must announce this latest bit of news. As of this afternoon, I pulled the plug on the acquisition of the USAX 1682 GE 80 ton switcher. When we finally received the inspection report on the locomotive, it was revealed that the locomotive was in far worse shape than initially described. The inspection documented that both air compressors were missing, one of the two alternators is missing, several other air brake components are also missing and the final item that caused me to close the door on this item, one or more traction motors have been burned up and would need to be replaced. The accumulative cost to bring the locomotive back to operation would not justify the initial expenditure of acquiring and transporting the locomotive. I could not, in good conscientious, continue pursuing this locomotive in light of these recent facts.

It is my hope that this will only lead to a better opportunity for SARHM that will better serve our needs. To all donors who donated, please let us know if you want us to return your funds or would you prefer us to earmark the funds for future locomotive acquisitions. Please contact us via messenger. Thank you.

Gary Rodriguez
President/CEO

Emmo213 · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2021 1:43 pm

Emmo213 wrote:

$2,500 for an operable locomotive? Dang.

PrrOpCrew wrote:

When we finally received the inspection report on the locomotive, it was revealed that the locomotive was in far worse shape than initially described.

Well that makes sense.