Prototype News

A rare MK50-3 locomotive that spent more than a decade moving freight over Utah’s famed Soldier Summit has been saved by the Promontory Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. Utah Railway 5004 is the latest locomotive with connections to the Beehive State that the group has acquired, and plans call for it to be displayed at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden. 

Utah 5004 was one of six MK5000C demonstrator locomotives built by Morrison-Knudsen in August 1995. As a demonstrator, it tested its 5,000-horsepower capabilities on the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific between 1994 and 1995, and later on BC Rail in 1998. It was subsequently tested by, and later sold to, Utah Railway in November 2000. Due to drivetrain failures associated with the Caterpillar engine and Kato traction generator, 5004 was sent to Motive Power Industries in 2003 and converted into an MK50-3. The locomotive spent the next decade and a half hauling unit coal, unit oil, and mixed commodity trains over Soldier Summit and along Utah’s Wasatch Front. Following the decline in coal traffic on Utah Railway in 2017, 5004 and its siblings were relocated to the Kyle Railroad, a fellow Genesee & Wyoming property operating in Colorado and Kansas. All six units have since been sidelined. Locomotive 5004 is the first to be preserved. 

NRHS chapter officials said the locomotive will be moved to Ogden soon. The group is also looking for opportunities to keep the locomotive in service. 

—Justin Franz 

The post Promontory NRHS Chapter Saves Rare MK50-3 appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

The Illinois Railway Museum has added a 50-foot Railbox boxcar, one of the most ubiquitous and distinctive car types seen on American railroads during the last quarter of the 20th century, to its collection in Union, Ill. RBOX 21491 was built in 1975 by Pullman-Standard and was part of the initial pool of 10,000 boxcars built upon the creation of Railbox in 1974. It arrived at the museum on June 17.

Railbox Company was created in January 1974 to address a critical nationwide shortage of boxcars. Although incorporated as a subsidiary of Trailer Train (TTX), and managed by that company, the construction costs of the initial 10,000 Railbox cars were guaranteed by TTX’s owner railroads. Those 10,000 boxcars were all 50-foot-long, all-steel, “Plate B” cars. These cars were used throughout a “pool” of 258 railroads and helped alleviate the serious shortage of boxcars. Unlike most railroad-owned boxcars at that time, Railbox cars could be loaded in any direction on any railroad without having to move back to the original carrier when unloaded, hence the slogan “Next Load, Any Road.”

In 1982, a recession combined with an oversupply of boxcars — caused in part by the success of Railbox — caused a financial crisis for the boxcar pooling company. The initial 10,000 boxcars were returned to the guarantor railroads, with RBOX 21491 being sent to the Union Pacific, where it was renumbered in the 130400-series. At a later date, RBOX 21491 was repurchased from the Union Pacific by Railbox, and it ended its service days with TTX, which absorbed Railbox Company in 2000.

“IRM wishes to thank TTX Company for donating this historic car,” the museum wrote. “RBOX 21491 is essentially unmodified and represents one of the most visible efforts of American railroads during the 1970s to modernize and to improve their operations and efficiency.”

IRM intends to restore the car to its as-built appearance and operate it occasionally in demonstration service for visitors.

—Railfan & Railroad Staff

The post IRM Saves 50-Foot Railbox Boxcar appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.