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Minnesota Zephyr F7s to be scrapped
What a shame, MTM sure could use them.
This is awful. I love F units and E units.
Too bad a local museum couldn’t obtain them.
Sad to see them go. Great old emds that don’t deserve this fate.
This sounds like a job for Warren Buffet. After all, he’s got the cash, and he owns a railroad.
If I ever won a lottery, this is the kind of stuff I’d become involved in. Sounds silly, I know, but all you need is money – with a vision and a purpose. Save these locomotives, find them a home or lease them out, preserve history and put 'em to work at the same time.
Seems that everybody who wants them saved is unable to factor in the cost and logistics of moving the locomotives. Specialized load trucks with drivers don’t come cheap. Thanks to all the attached government regulations on the trucks and their drivers, they cost even more than they should. Plus the last trailer broke when attempting the move. Those trailers just don’t break for no reason. Something tells me there is more to this than just a joy ride down a city street. Ever been to Stillwater? Even with a standard 53 foot dry van it’s a nightmare. You have to admire those oversize load truck drivers for making the attempt.
Now that the truck and moving costs issues are out of the way, has anybody considered moving them using temporary panel track and a couple of crawler tractors? That is how they got the 2903 out of Jackson Park in Chicago. Of course, somebody interested in those locomotives would have to pay for such a move.
It would seem that removing some major components through the roof like the main generator, prime mover and air compressor would lighten the load quite a bit. Drop the trucks and it would be easier to handle.
They’d look good pulling a new FEC Miami-Orlando train, if they were painted in the old “Flagler” scheme of citrus colors. Contact Fortress Investment Group (FIG) in Jacksonville, FL. We own the FEC.
There must be something somebody can do to save these F’s.
Scrapping any in 2012 is unheard of!
It seems sad to scrap operable F units. It is not like we are swimming in a surplus of first generation EMDs. However
GTW 5629 ( a beautiful 4-6-2) was killed by a variety of factors – and other than the parties going to court and a judge issuing a ruling, the government played nearly no role.
They were lucky the load is on public property. If they were in my front yard I’d be screaming and calling a salvage co of my own. I love old trains but keeping them up, insuring, and protecting them from elements , theives, and non-train folks is expensive and time consuming.
Is there any chance that the Keokuk Junction Railway might buy them? They have a small fleet of Fs in revenue-earning freight service and might be interested and able to acquire two more units - especially if operable - if presented with the opportunity.
I
Locomotives that large and much larger get moved all the time over the highway, including an EMD F40 when a trestle fire stranded a complete MBTA commuter train in the mid-1980s. Why do I get the sense there is more to this than space permitted mentioning? Is the cost of transportating them to live rails by a competent specialty hauler so high as to exceed their fair market value?
Stupid idea.
Instead of scrapping the engines the owner should lease them to a shortline.
Somebody call Ed Ellis!
Somebody call Ed Ellis!