Does anyone know if the former Rock Island SW1 operated by DeBruce Grain out in Plainview Texas is still around? If so, this would make it, by my calculations, the very last engine still in it’s original RI paint… The last picture I saw was dated 2007, so i suppose it is reasonable to assume it is still around. ~Kevin
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1015742
Was there 3 months ago.
You also have 2 hanger queen SW-8s at Silvis plus the hulk of GP-18 1340 at Phillipsburg, KS still out there (But Kyle/RA was going to sell or scrap it)
I photographed, at a great distance, two ex-RI SW’s parked at the former RI Silvis shops in 1997. They were still in the red & yellow scheme with the Rock Island lettering very visible. I asked permission to snap some photo’s on their property but was politely denied (there were a few MidSouth engines I also wanted to shoot). The RI units may still be there for all I know.
Same two engines. Shop goats?
Sadly, i do not believe those units are in Silvis any longer. As far as i can tell they were scrapped, as were the sw1500’s 942 & 944 that were hanging around back in 2000-2002. Though i heard 944 may have been rebulit…I have heard of the gp-18 but have never found any pictures varifying it’s continued existance there. If you know of any, please post a link.