I went down to Ecology Auto Wrecking on 27th ave in Phoenix, expecting to find a replacement fender for my Caprice police package. Didn’t find one, but I did find something a bit interesting.
Buried in a mountain of old horse trailers, amidst a section of old construction equipment, was a pair of EMD 16-645E3 engines in various states of damage, and a 16-645E engine with one of its Roots blowers laying in pieces on the ground near it. One of the engines still had its turbo on it. There was also a “Blomberg B” GP swinghanger truck sideframe laying in the pile. This has my curiosity peaked as to where these came from and what they used to be, and how they wound up in an automotive wrecking yard in Phoenix, AZ.
Accessory side of one of the 645E3 engines.
16-645E without the exhaust manifolds.
Same engine as #2, showing the Roots lobes laying on the ground.
16-645E3 engine on its side, turbocharger showing.
As an aside, in the Ford section of the same yard, is an old steam locomotive tender which was used as a fuel reservoir for the Amtrak shuttle trains that ran over the Salt River in 1980, when winter storms flooded the Salt and wiped out most of the bridges. This has been here for years.