amazing news! :)
I got an email about a week ago from Damion Pinta, who was just casually wondering if I knew about the LV C628 long hood that still existed in a scrap yard?!
I didnt!

Its at the former Pielet Bros yard.
(they arent Pielet Bros anymore)
Its not complete, its the long hood, on the ground, the frame (and probably the trucks) and the rear of the long hood with the numberboards still displaying the LV number.

No Cab, no engine, no handrails, and probably no nose.

Damion took the photos about 5 years ago.
Not sure if the parts are still there.
they could have been wholly scrapped by now.
but..if they survived this long, its quite possible they are still there!

My immediate thought was "preservation"! :-D
but..im afraid there might not really be enough to save.
If the frame and trucks are there, in theory you could put the long hood back on the frame, graft on any Century cab and nose from another unit, and have a basically complete C628 for display!
Damion says the handrails are gone from the frame too..
so basically its about half of a C628..
probably not enough to make it worthwhile..
but maybe thats just me being too pessismistic?
it might be worth looking into!
especially considering there is not one single surviving C628 in the US.

Damion found this information, which probably refers to this unit.
From "Diesel Era" magazine, May/June 1996.
""The LV C-628's were assigned Conrail numbers 6721-6737, but two were retired without being renumbered. LV 633 and 636 were retired on March 20, 1978, and traded to EMD in June without receiving their Conrail numbers"."

so this unit is likely either 633 or 636.
and..it cant be 633 since 633 was red by the time of CR.
So it must be 636.
633 and 636 were traded to EMD on 3/20/78.
and both were reported "scrapped Pielet Bros (IL)."
here are the pics!
thanks Damion!
Scot

This is my favorite kind of news. My anticipated knee-jerk reaction is "it's too far gone" but if this were in Britain (or were an American miliatary relic) the knee-jerk might be "lets rebuild it!"


Can we be that far off from finding a NYC J-3a in a barn? ;-)

Rob

Well Scot, nothing is impossible, only prohibitively expensive. That said, there is another rare Alco out in Oregon that is being rebuilt from little more than what you described, so I guess that's something to think about. Keep in mind though that just because these pieces were still there five years ago, doesn't mean they are all still there today, especially considering the sharp increase in scrap prices during that time. If nothing else, it sounds like it would be worth investigating whether these pieces are still around, and documenting what's left.

Richard Jenkins

Some info fm UtahRails.net on Pielet's recent history. I tried Terraserver yesterday, but couldn't quite ID where Pielet used to be. Anyone out in Chicago who can provide more info? I suspect this hood is long gone, but ya never know until ya ask......
Walter
***************
Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal Co.
Pielet Brothers Trading Co.
St. Louis Auto Shredding
Illinois Scrap Processing Company
Scrap Service Co.
Scrap Corporation of America
Midwest Metallics
Salvage yard at Joliet Road and 55th Street in McCook, Ill., adjacent to EMD’s LaGrange plant.
Salvage yards also in Argo, Ill., and Summit, Ill.
Anyone who has been in this locomotive hobby for more than 10 years will certainly recognize the Pielet Brothers name, and how the company has been the final resting place for thousands of locomotives traded to EMD over the past 40-50 years.
According to Mr. Irving Pielet, in a telephone interview during early 1986, he and his brother, Arthur Pielet, were instrumental in the business of scrapping railroad locomotives in the Chicago area. Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal Company was organized in the late 1940s, and from 1954 on, was the exclusive scrapper used by the General Motors Electro-Motive Division when they started their locomotive trade-in program. The company scrapped literally thousands of locomotives before Irving Pielet sold out to his brother in 1975. Arthur Pielet and his sons James and Robert continued to operate the Pielet Brothers Company until Arthur Pielet sold out to his son James in December 1986 (the company had stopped scrapping trade-in locomotives for EMD in 1984). James Pielet changed the company name to Scrap Service Company and continued to operate salvage yards in Arlington Heights, Joliet, and McCook. At the McCook location, located adjacent to the EMD factory, two men were capable scrapping a single locomotive in one day. During 1985 and 1986, there was also a company known as Chicago Railway Equipment, thought to also be a part of the Pielet organization.
In 1993, James Pielet sold out to his partner Cyrus Tang, who changed the company name to Midwest Metallics. Pielet continued to operate his J. P. Investments firm. Midwest Metallics began having financial difficulties in 1995 due to environmental and hazardous waste concerns following an OSHA inspection in December 1994, and by July 1999 had declared bankruptcy. During mid 1995, Midwest Metallics was the largest automobile scrap recycler in the midwestern states. Their remaining locomotives were sold to Larry’s Truck Electric of McDonald, Ohio, who moved them to various locations for rebuilding, or to be salvaged for parts.
Upon selling his interest to his brother in 1975, Irving Pielet organized Pielet Brothers Trading Company, located in Des Plaines, in northwest Chicago. As a subsidiary, he organized St. Louis Auto Shredding, which operated a salvage yard in East St. Louis, Ill., and beginning in 1978, another Pielet subsidiary known as Illinois Scrap Processing was located on the 9300 block of Ewing Avenue in southeast Chicago. The Chicago salvage yard was sold to Cozzi Iron & Metal in 1988. Beginning in 1975, the St. Louis location scrapped hundreds of former UP, BN, AT&SF, and C&NW railroad locomotives, but stopped bidding on railroad locomotive scrapping business in 1988.
Scrap Corporation of America operated a salvage yard at 130th Street, where hundreds of rail cars were cut up during the 1986 to 1993 time period. This company was also operating under the Pielet corporate umbrella.
Last known as B&B Scrap, the McCook location was closed and abandoned in February 2000.
(There is also a Pielet Metal Trading, Inc., in Flossmoor Ill.
http://www.recycle.net/recycle/trade/rs192013.html)
Article from American Metal Market, a Cahners Publishing trade publication, dated May 12, 1999:
Scrap veteran Pielet dies.
NEW YORK — Arthur Pielet of Highland Park, Ill., former co-owner of Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal Inc., died earlier this month following a lengthy illness. He was 80.
Pielet served in the U.S. Navy "Seabees" during World War II and was stationed in the Philippines for two years.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Dorothy; three sons, Robert, James and Charles; two daughters, Patricia Pielet Kaplan and Addie; and 10 grandchildren.
Pielet Brothers was founded shortly after World War II in McCook, Ill., and was later headquartered in Argo, Ill. Known as one of the largest auto scrap processors in the region, the former company was purchased and renamed Midwest Metallics LP in the mid 1990s.
COPYRIGHT 1999 Cahners Publishing Company
http://www.findarticles.com/m3MKT/91_10 ... icle.jhtml
Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal Co.
< http://yp.gates96.com/9/33/75/84.html >

Potential sources for more information:
Luria Bros. & Co. v. Pielet Bros. Scrap Iron & Metal, Inc., 600 F.2d 103, 115 (7th Cir. 1979).
Pielet v. Pielet, 686 F.2d 1210, 1217 (7th Cir. 1982)
Pielet Brothers Trading Co., Des Plaines, Ill.
(see Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal Co.)

Pielet was (is) right next to the EMD plant in McCook.

I think the last owner may have walked away from the site, as there may be
some unresolved EPA Superfund liability extant.

IMHO, I don't think that there is a preservation group on earth that couldn't find a better use for $$$ than pie-in-the-sky stuff like this.

OLG,

I agree with you 100% if that pie we're looking up at is American Pie. But why do the Brits have a decidedly different pie?

Why do they have more locos running?

Why do they have full new-builds in the works?

Why do they have at least 5 steam locomotives in the works being built from fewer parts than this C-628?

I know I ask these questions alot here, but it is because I have yet to figure out what it is in the British water that allows them to acheive infinitely more than Americans in rail preservation.

Heck, there are British groups repatriating engines from around the globe and we have trouble getting sheds built in parks!

Rob