Nostalgia & History > MPI Memories

I grew up in Pocatello, ID, which was (almost) always a one-railroad town.  Fortunately, the monotony of armor yellow was often broken up by our being down the line from Boise's local locomotive rebuilder.  Originally Morrison Knudsen, now a division of Wabtec, the place created a steady stream of motive power variety passing through Poky.  Some of it was old junk headed west, some was shiny, newly-rebuilt (and later, newly-built) power headed east.  It was always good to see something different.

With the news that manufacturing there will come to an end in 2020, I thought I'd post some of the stuff I saw over the years.

#1:  1992 had a newly rebuilt GP28M for BN and a Tri-Rail F40PHC-2C (says my notes).  An MK rep was aboard and invited my brother and I up into the cab of these two for a look around...I don't know if that sort of thing ever happens anymore.

#2:  In 1996, two of MK's lease fleet SD45's were on hand.  This one was a former CR of the "P" variety.  As far as I know this was a unique paint scheme for MK's leasers.

#3:  The other SD45 on hand had more obvious lineage.  Both of these would be owned by Wisconsin Central soon.

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4.  Still in 1996, one more member of the MK lease fleet was passing through.

5.  1996 brought one of MK's first foray (that I know of) into building brand new locomotives with a 5000-HP MK5000 demonstrator passing through.  Six were built; three painted for SP and three as MK demonstrators.

6.  A lot of retired CSX junk seemed to go to MK.  Here, a Chessie-painted GP38 was headed that way...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/20 19:56 by Nomad.

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7.  ....along with a Seaboard-painted GP40.  (Still 1996 for both CSX photos.)

8.  And last one for 1996, a freshly rebuilt SP45T-2 for KCS is on its way East.  1996 was a busy year for MK.

9.  Jumping ahead to 2001, MK had scrapped the MK5000 program but the six units built got a new life when they were sold to Utah Railway.  They didn't work out too well as MK5000's and were eventually rebuilt into SD50 equivalents.

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10.  2007 - a pair of MP20C-3's were on their way south to Pacific Harbor Lines in LA.

11.  2007 - Metro-North GP40FH-2

12.  Jumping ahead again to 2017, an MP14B was passing through on its way to Texas.

Sadly, railfanning in Poky will be getting a little less interesting this year.
 

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Fascinating variety, bummer they are closing up the Boise shop. I loved peeking over the fence the couple of times I was there.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

Very nice series!

For the record, the first "all new" units to come out of Boise were the 1991 MBTA F40PHM-2C's. Frames were fabricated at MK with some parts coming from EMD or EMD vendors.

Thanks for posting!

Posted from Android

In #7, that's an ex-SAL GP40 delivered a year before SCL in the "Jolly Green Giant" paint. Too bad SCL didn't adopt JGG.

ctillnc Wrote:
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> In #7, that's an ex-SAL GP40 delivered a year
> before SCL in the "Jolly Green Giant" paint. Too
> bad SCL didn't adopt JGG.

I agree. The "patched" units looked great. They even used a green SCL logo!

Posted from Android