Western Railroad Discussion > Shortline Sunday - Dakota Southern

June 28 2011 stopped in Chamberlain SD to check out the Dakota Southern. Looked liked it had not run any trains for some time. How they got that big Jack there on the feeble looking track must have been a challenge....

Bob 

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1-Dakota Southern had a variety of stored units.  Dakota Southern Railway 213, Alco C420, was in their deadline at Chamberlain, SD, May 16, 2016.

2-Ex-Soo Line 719, GP30, had been a parts source.  Chamberlain, SD, May 17, 2016.

Glad you visited this interesting South Dakota shortline.

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What a shame that DD40 is out there just going to crap.
 

That area looked about the same this last summer when I stopped by.   In a way, I'm glad they aren't touching those units as they are kind of like a mini-museum of sorts with most of those units far from their original operating routes.  Even the misc. equipment and the former MILW depot are still there. 

 My wife and I went by the DD 40 about 20 years ago on our visit to MT Rushmore,  and it did not look good then . What a waste !

In the first photo you can see the spare DD truck sitting in the weeds just to the left of the Engine. Alex could tell you exactly which engine it came from. Sadly Mike had it cut up for scrap a couple years ago in the ongoing cleaning up of the property.
Steve

It would have been great to see those DD's kept, rebuilt and still run fast on high priority UP trains.  When they did run in their early years, crews loved them, and there was pride in running them.

I had a call from them several years ago asking if Union Pacific would be interested in taking the Centennial back.  Sadly I had to say no.

I don’t know what the history of this unit was that led it to such an unlikely location.  I think I read or heard they had planned to use it for fuel storage.

JB - Omaha

"Re: UP 6925, DDA40X, parts source" dated 5/23/2016 on this discussion board has the answer about why Dakota Southern bought the unit.  It was a pleasant surprise when we found we had lucked out with a pair of damaged "heavy block" 16-645E3B engine drop-ins in lieu of the originals.  Jousting at windmills, the "fact" DSRC bought the unit as a fuel storage tank was a poor joke I made to our primary mechanic and it was overheard by someone else who didn't know any better.  Lesson learned.  As an add-on, the man in charge of surplus sales had to clear the sale of the 6925 to another railroad with higher ups, he told me.  The spare truck was from the 6906, which was sold to a scrapper at the same time DSRC bought the 6925.  DSRC in turn bought the spare truck from the scrapper.
Alex Huff, still chasing will of the wisp stories about the "fuel tank"        

Ok , I found the post about it being purchased for spare parts.  I retired in 2011 and was way being kept up at nights worrying about  this.

JB - Omaha