Progress Rail has been a supporter of Fort Wayne's Nickel Plate SD9 and there are plans to recognize their anniversary in the mix. We've found their employees to be incredibly supportive and engaged in recognizing EMD's legacy.

It would be REALLY nice if Progress would allow some sort of appropriate celebration at Muncie, but I have zero reason to expect that they will. Sure glad I went to the 75th at Lagrange, because there will probably never be anything like it in the locomotive business ever again.

For a variety of reasons involving liability, industrial espionage, and just plain politics, there is now much less chance that large public "open house" events will be held. It is even less likely that there will be builder sponsored displays like the enormous assembly of Winton and EMD engines and the sequential "progress" lineup of historically significant equipment done at the EMD 25th Anniversary in 1947 (Covered in R&LHS RAILROAD HISTORY) or the cosmetic restoration done on the 50th Anniversary of the FT in 1989.

And for anyone who wants to visit the La Grange Plant in its busiest years, there is a 75 page three-part all color photo presentation of the typical Training Center Plant Tour in R&LHS RAILROAD HISTORY issues 218, 219, and 220. It is arranged in the order of engine assembly, followed by electrical equipment manufacturing, and locomotive final assembly. The roughly 200 images are just about 1/2 of the original 2002 "INSIDE EMD" slide lecture program on which the article series was based. It is 20 years since completion of that program already, and 40 years since it was photographed, and four years since the first part of the plant tour appeared in RAILROAD HISTORY. Amazing how quickly time passes.

Note Added: R&LHS advises that RAILROAD HISTORY #218 (the section of "INSIDE EMD" covering the building of the engines), is completely sold out. Issue #219 (building the electrical equipment) is still available in limited numbers, Issue #220 (Final Assembly) remains available at this time (12/25/2021).

PC

Here is the Bridge Industrial press release announcing availability of the former EMD property:

https://bridgeindustrial.com/media/deal ... mccook-il/

All this will soon be gone, so will the people who worked there, to be replaced by those who "interpret" the history.

PC

Several people contacted me this week to advise that they had received the Kalmbach "EMD AT 100" Video which was produced by Rich Luckin. It is a bit over an hour long.

PC

In the last few weeks the people who were interviewed for the EMD AT 100 video have received their copies, and several EMD retirees who purchased the video sent e-mails about it. I also notice some museum gift shops will have the video for sale.

And I understand that Classic Trains and R&LHS Railroad History will be running articles related to the anniversary in upcoming issues.

PC

I was informed this afternoon that IRM will be holding an EMD 100th Anniversary event this month. Perhaps someone from IRM can provide some more exact details.

PC

I was informed a couple of months ago that CSX 6093 (GM50) had been sent through the Dash-3 rebuild program and given a new cab and other physical changes that would render it no longer "as-built" enough for museum purposes as GM50. So, another one got away.

I thought GM50 was CSX 6063?

I'm not seeing anything about it happening. I don't even think the Dash 3 program has been underway for a number of years now.

Even if she gets rebuilt, the cab is the most noticeable difference. I wouldn't think it would have to be a deal breaker even though it's certainly an extra expense to one day backdate her with a donor Spartan cab and nose.

The first GP7 had been chop-nosed by the C&NW but received a replacement high short-hood when IRM saved it, so there's some precedent in the American preservation world for such backdating.

The other visible external differences are relatively minor like the new hand brake stand at the rear of the long hood. It's otherwise mostly internal upgrades like the replacement of the Dash 2 electrical system.

While different from when outshopped, those internal updates also tell a major part of the Dash 2 story and is helping that saga continue well into the future. I wouldn't think they should be a deterrent to future preservation if she enjoys similar updating.

The biggest issue to a Dash 3 internal rebuild is future operating prospects. We're already seeing some Dash 3 rebuilds from the 90's become impractical to keep going due to aging microprocessors and the lack of replacement parts. I believe that's why BNSF retired all of their SD38P's a while back for an example (1990's rebuilds of mostly SD35's).

I suspect good old fashioned Dash 2 module cards will be much easier to keep going down the road.

I had a question come in this week asking "what happened" to the EMD 100th Anniversary Commemorative book that Progress Rail had hired a corporate history writing firm to work on. I do not know the answer. perhaps someone can inform us. I never worked for Progress Rail, I was a GM employee, and although I heard about the Progress Rail project and know some of their management, I was not contacted by the writers and I do not know the outcome.

My own writing projects for this Anniversary, five articles totaling nearly 50 pages, were all completed long ago and all of them are in print now. Nothing else is planned.

PC

A few notes to add.

Former SD45 demonstrator, EMDX 4354, is in the collection of the Museo Del Ferrocarril de Matamoros in Matamoros, Mexico - on the US border near Brownsville, TX. The locomotive is displayed outside, on connected track adjacent to a yard.

Some photos may be found on the museum's Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/MuseoFerrocarrilMat/photos

Recent photos elsewhere show the unit has since lost its front number boards while on display. If a US museum would be interested in this unit, I think it would be reasonable to open a dialogue with the Matamoros museum about a potential trade. A smaller locomotive might be easier to secure and display away from active track.

EMD SW 900 demonstrator, EMDX 6535, later Waterloo 4, was last photographed in 2018 at an AGP soybean processing plant in Eagle Grove, IA. http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=5001720

Does this unit still exist?

The EMD 100th arrived, IRM had an event for current and past EMD employees over a week ago, reportedly about 1000 people attended. EMD can still generate a large number of attendees for a museum special event, It is estimated that there are more living current and past EMD employees than the entire membership of the largest railroad historical society in the USA. Employment at EMD peaked at approximately 14,410 in 1979.

During the last couple months demolition crews removed the former Fabrication Building and Parts Department Building at the La Grange plant site, leaving the former Engineering Building as the remaining EMD structure in the complex.

Friends at Progress Rail advise that their commemorative book is still being worked on.

PC

Just following up on this discussion, the Progress Rail commemorative book apparently never materialized, and there has been no further recent information on its status.

I completed work this year on a very large article covering, along with other topics, EMD's decline in the 1980s and 1990s, and the events leading up to the GM decision to sell EMD. It is comprehensively documented, has been sent to a highly respected organization for publication.

PC

CONGRATULATIONS from somebody who was recently bugging you about writing a book. Please let us know the particulars when you can, and best of luck. I know it will be a great success !!!

VIVA EMD !!!