I was looking through the Government auction web site at http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions
and saw a piece of railroad equipment for sale. When I clicked on the item it was a JACKSON 7000 TAMPER, 6V-71 with DETROIT DIESEL ENGINE. USED/REPAIRS MAY BE REQUIRED
Current bid:
The GSA website says it was sold for $31,200 - which is a steal, even if most of it was scrap, which it probably wasn’t. True value, even if the engine was shot - likely $100 to $300,000, ‘depending’. They don’t say what year or how many hours on it, which would be very useful to know . . . [:-^]
Too bad I didn’t see this earlier - I know some people who would’ve been interested.
The US Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland bought a similar tamper in the early 1980’s, as part of the Reagan-era defense build-up and the resulting much more free-flow of money back then. But I don’t think they had anybody there who knew how to operate it - in almost daily visits there for about a year, I never saw it anyplace else other than parked out in front of the enginehouse . . . [sigh]
Thanks for the post anyway.