I used to live here the shop was the former Rock Island service yard till 1980.almost 90% of the unit that go here are repainted or rebuilt and sent to other railroads.
I feel certain I worked off EVERY ONE of those Burlington Northern 72-series engines. I was working back when we were receiving these units 4 and 5 days old out of La Grange. They were MAGNIFICIENT machines....which we used mostly for 99 to 126 car-long coal trains pulling out of the mines near Gillette, Wyoming. Seeing them dead and dying literally brings tears to my eyes. These units keep me adequately warm in very cold, dangerous winters. Sob...cry. I will never forget their screaming turbochargers up long grades like Moorcroft hill and the hard pulls out of the bottoms of those coal mines. I love you guys.....so long.
I just looked this place up on Google Earth and it loaded all of the engines so they're 3D and there's a lot of stuff that should be in museums. Deep in the bowels of this place I saw CN and Conrail F Units along with what look like 5 CN HR616s which were short lived cowl units built by Bombardier (sort of like the Canadian version of GE if they only built heavy equipment). CN only had 20 in the first place and were all retired in the late 90s. Very cool place. As far as I know NREX (National Railway Equipment) doesn't usually scrap these engines. They usually either fix them up and lease them or they use them for parts for rebuilds on other locomotives. One other thing I saw on Google Earth that was cool was they have the only two CP Genset units sitting amongst these locomotives.
Hey no problem man. I totally agree with you I wish more shops would do this. Like I said I know some will have to be scrapped, but others can be perfectly fine and maybe fine new life on Class II or Class III railroads if not switching or local duties on Class I's.
Paducah, KY has a shop like that. Hence "Paducah Rebuilds" It has a fence ALL around it. There are signs that read: NO TRESPASSING, NO VISITORS ALLOWED, ETC... One can shoot a video through the fence, but that's it. I was informed that the rebuild shop was once a IC/ICG locomotive repair facility. In conclusion, may all of those locomotives rest in peace. Thank you for sharing. Happy railroading!!
My grandfather was a yardmaster at this Yard in Silvis (Kelly yard) back in the 60's and 70's. I grew up in this area back in the early 90's. I used to sneak down there and play on those old locomotives on the weekends. Back then there were some old F/E units and some random old Rock Island lines stuff there. I remember a couple old SW switchers very well. I was run outta there many times by the NREX railroad "police". good times !
I went here a few weeks back, they weren't too happy to see me. Everything was expensive but it was still cool to see all of this power in one location. There was a CP locomotive there that only 3 were in existence
I am living in Rock Island right now. As far as my knowledge, most (if not all) these engines are either here to be refurbished and sent back to their respective railroads or are to be rebuilt and sold to other railroads. Not very many, if any, are scrapped. I'm sure some are, but most aren't.
Hmmm...let's see...rent a helicopter, fly there some night and pick one of these engines up, set it down in my back yard. Nobody would even miss it! I'll plant some bushes around the yard to camouflage it, then I could go out there and play train! Or set up a big simulator inside the cab! Oh wait...wonder what my wife would say? Ahh, she'll be okay if I let her be the engineer sometimes...
If you called them they will sell you a complete locomotive cab with everything still in the Cab. Add a extension to garage will screens inside and a high end gamer computer To run the simulator program hooked up to controls in cab. You can buy the same Software the railroads use for their simulators. Food for thought
I live in the Quad Cities and have driven by that facility a few times. Silvis was the site of the Rock Island's major classification yard and locomotive facility. I believe the rebuild locomotives there now.
Hopefully they will be rebuilt, with some, but highly unlikely with many since new powers are out such as those AC4400s, SD90 Macs, SD30 Eco units and all those other newer generation diesels. Still though, many of the units in this video were around since the 1960's and 70's. They were built to last and that they did. Will be sad to see many of them go. I hope I'm wrong on that but I doubt it. :-(
Wow that is a lot of engines. I used to live in Richmond 78-85 and one time I went by a yard that was in the North part of the City. I want to think it was a RF&P yard, though What I recall doesn't look like pics I just looked up of the RFP but they also had tons of engines lined up and I was in heaven! No place to really stop and look in detail though.
A US Diesel lover's dream! Though I don't know much about US Diesels (more into UK designs), it's cool seeing hundreds of these lined up! Quite colourful, too!
I know this place. It is a rebuild facility. They totally rebuild these locomotives then resale them to small railroads and to companies over seas. This place was featured on Discovery channel on the series Great Structures.
I see more than one ex-Milwaukee Road dash-2 in there. Short fuel tank and hood-side bell tucked up just behind the cab. Weed-cutter plow on the rear pilot. Really miss seeing and hearing them howling up the hill through St. Louis Park. Wish TC&W would get a clue.
Douglas Skaalrud I don't think it'll be too long before CP grabs TCW before the BN can get it. Of course, if CP were smart, they'd buy up the entire Milw main to Miles City from the BN.
Not all locomotives in this video will be rebuilt into GenSets, most of them are actually for sale in there used tab on the website, I have seen various selection from GP30's to B40-8's
The best, most diverse and intriguing generation of diesels ever here. These days I don't even turn my head to look at the uniform model and color/scheme power consists on the road. Boooooring!
It is cheaper to retire older model engines, than it is to rebuild/refurbish them. The SKO lines, out here in Wichita, KS, buys those older engines, and then rebuilds them for use on their lines. The SKO is a subsidiary of WAMX, (Watkins America, Inc.); owned by the late Richard Watkins.
Look at all those 4,000 to 5,000 gallon fuel tanks on the engines. How many still filled with fuel? Its time to strip them of parts and cut them up. a lot of good useful scrap sitting there. Watched this on March 7 2019. don't even know if they are still there.
Tomcat101 I just went to their website to look, and they have a massive inventory, there's even some GP10's for sale! Only thing missing from the site is the price tag
they need to have some historical foundation that keeps a locomotive from a no longer running railroad such as Conrail, Santa Fe, etc keeps it in original paint and puts it on display in a museum, in stead of being scrapped or re painted, who want's to start it with me :)
I would like to get ahold of about two dozen gp30's and another dozen sd 40-2's for passenger service across Minnesota, north of Minneapolis to Duluth then to Two Harbors then northwest to Hibbing west from there to Grand Rapids then to Bemidji and final destination to Grand forks connection to Amtrak again west. northern Minnesota needs the service. we'll call it the "Iron" in Ojibwe. "Biwabik RR"
I live in MN. This would never happen in this state. With the knuckleheads at the capitol jibbing and jabbing at each other. Pointing fingers at each other for who pays for what and stuffing tax dollars for their pet projects and failing as usual to get anything done. There once was a great rail system. Then buses came along, then flying anywhere you want. Even now that is getting expensive. Its great to ride a train. Try and tell this to the buffoons in public office and you will get a blank stare and they wonder what the hell you are talking about. I like your idea but like I said it will never happen.
I think this is National Railway Equipment Co. It's a former Rock Island facility. The locomotives will be refurbished and sold or scrapped. They have a web site that details what they do. It's pretty interesting. Here's the link: www.nre.com/
steiger 256 They'll part them out, but there's only so much of a need for older EMD (567/645) parts, and with GE, pretty much everything from the Dash 7 on up is still available new or reman from GE (Alco's and GE Uboats can also use the Dash 7 parts).
Saw a Factory fresh GP9 and 2 GP-38. not sure what version, but was told they are needed as the feeder routes can't handle SD-70s. NS outside of Memphis. North MS. Rails are old. shorter wheel base works better. Less ground.
A real railfans treasure trove to look at, just too bad they can't allow railfans access to look at all the engines sitting there, ohh well. Awesome stuff
Union pacific, Iowa interstate, Bn, Bnsf, Santa Fe, Conrail, Nrex, Illinois Central/Illinois Central Gulf, Hlmx, Furx, TTI, Csx, Rlox?, Southern Pacific, Railnet. I don't know the one with the split word on its side at 1:08. But that's every railway I spotted
I used to live here the shop was the former Rock Island service yard till 1980.almost 90% of the unit that go here are repainted or rebuilt and sent to other railroads.
I feel certain I worked off EVERY ONE of those Burlington Northern 72-series engines. I was working back when we were receiving these units 4 and 5 days old out of La Grange. They were MAGNIFICIENT machines....which we used mostly for 99 to 126 car-long coal trains pulling out of the mines near Gillette, Wyoming. Seeing them dead and dying literally brings tears to my eyes. These units keep me adequately warm in very cold, dangerous winters. Sob...cry. I will never forget their screaming turbochargers up long grades like Moorcroft hill and the hard pulls out of the bottoms of those coal mines. I love you guys.....so long.
i see a lot of UP tunnel engines are present, what a huge find, id set up a tent there!
All these locomotives look like they've seen a lot of good use during their lifetime...
Keon's Trains were u nervous or was there an earthquake .
and they will get more after rebuild :D
@@oneeyedhacker715 These Engines should be rebuild
if i ever won the lottery i would buy all these stored locomotives in a heartbeat!!!!!!!
MY MAN
9751asd TBH I would to and run them cause In the beginning I thought these were abandoned
they are waiting rebuilds
I just looked this place up on Google Earth and it loaded all of the engines so they're 3D and there's a lot of stuff that should be in museums. Deep in the bowels of this place I saw CN and Conrail F Units along with what look like 5 CN HR616s which were short lived cowl units built by Bombardier (sort of like the Canadian version of GE if they only built heavy equipment). CN only had 20 in the first place and were all retired in the late 90s. Very cool place. As far as I know NREX (National Railway Equipment) doesn't usually scrap these engines. They usually either fix them up and lease them or they use them for parts for rebuilds on other locomotives. One other thing I saw on Google Earth that was cool was they have the only two CP Genset units sitting amongst these locomotives.
All the shortlines of America need to find this place! Infinite surplus motive power for all. TTI Railroad could use a few more GE 4 axles.
RIP TTI
Hey no problem man. I totally agree with you I wish more shops would do this. Like I said I know some will have to be scrapped, but others can be perfectly fine and maybe fine new life on Class II or Class III railroads if not switching or local duties on Class I's.
Paducah, KY has a shop like that. Hence "Paducah Rebuilds" It has a fence ALL around it. There are signs that read: NO TRESPASSING, NO VISITORS ALLOWED, ETC... One can shoot a video through the fence, but that's it. I was informed that the rebuild shop was once a IC/ICG locomotive repair facility. In conclusion, may all of those locomotives rest in peace. Thank you for sharing. Happy railroading!!
curraheewolf Yeah ICG rebuilt alot of old GP7s and 9s into GP8s and 10s and SD35s and 38s into SD20s.
Yep, that's where the "Paducah Geeps" came from, the GP10s with the funny "frog light" on the nose.
What a colorful collection of old diesels. Neat.
Man I feel old. I remember seeing some of those SD40-2's brand spanking new right off the assembly line with the smell of fresh paint.
My grandfather was a yardmaster at this Yard in Silvis (Kelly yard) back in the 60's and 70's. I grew up in this area back in the early 90's. I used to sneak down there and play on those old locomotives on the weekends. Back then there were some old F/E units and some random old Rock Island lines stuff there. I remember a couple old SW switchers very well. I was run outta there many times by the NREX railroad "police". good times !
Seeing those conrail motors takes me back. Used to be able to hear those coming for miles away at night.
The "old folks home for locomotives". Nice work. Lots of Santa Fe and BN Cascade Green units, even some BNSF units as well. Good work.
Awesome footage...Born and raised in Quad Cities Illinois. Miss the Rock Island Lines. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! I saw some great stuff in this. Amazing!
Great when you come across these finds.. Thanks for sharing lot's of RR History there...
I liked both the Illinois Central Gulf General Purpose-8, & the Iowa Interstate locomotives in the yard.
Amazing to see all the SD40-2's waiting to be scrapped...They once ruled the rails.
Thank you for sharing-Awesome!
Well I got to work on those Tunnel Units. Great locomotives in there day.
Seeing all those contrails made me cry so hard :( I MISS YOU CONRAIIIIIIIILLLLLL!!!!!
i remember seeing 2 conrail sd40s working the yard by my house on the old pen
I love conrail to
nice video Patrick and great catch of all the different engine's in your video.
What a fantastic discovery, A RR fans dream come true. Thanks for sharing the video!
i saw a ferromex engine in that scrap yard once! good video. i thumbs up
OMG That is a big load of locos.
I went here a few weeks back, they weren't too happy to see me. Everything was expensive but it was still cool to see all of this power in one location. There was a CP locomotive there that only 3 were in existence
Saw some conrail trains sad they are gone
Cool a CR C32-8! Only saw a couple. Man lots and lots of awesome power here
So many people who drove those and so many stories. Wow...
I am living in Rock Island right now. As far as my knowledge, most (if not all) these engines are either here to be refurbished and sent back to their respective railroads or are to be rebuilt and sold to other railroads. Not very many, if any, are scrapped. I'm sure some are, but most aren't.
Hmmm...let's see...rent a helicopter, fly there some night and pick one of these engines up, set it down in my back yard. Nobody would even miss it! I'll plant some bushes around the yard to camouflage it, then I could go out there and play train! Or set up a big simulator inside the cab! Oh wait...wonder what my wife would say? Ahh, she'll be okay if I let her be the engineer sometimes...
LOL
get the one in the middle no one will ever know lol!
If you called them they will sell you a complete locomotive cab with everything still in the
Cab. Add a extension to garage will screens inside and a high end gamer computer
To run the simulator program hooked up to controls in cab. You can buy the same
Software the railroads use for their simulators.
Food for thought
I was thinking this.... I have stared at the railways of the US has so many side tracks you could do this
Paul Edstock but what if the helicopter fall when a train is heavy?
I live in the Quad Cities and have driven by that facility a few times. Silvis was the site of the Rock Island's major classification yard and locomotive facility. I believe the rebuild locomotives there now.
I hope alot of these classics will be re-furbished. :-)
Hopefully they will be rebuilt, with some, but highly unlikely with many since new powers are out such as those AC4400s, SD90 Macs, SD30 Eco units and all those other newer generation diesels. Still though, many of the units in this video were around since the 1960's and 70's. They were built to last and that they did. Will be sad to see many of them go. I hope I'm wrong on that but I doubt it. :-(
Railroader70 sd30 ecos are rebuilt sdd40s on cp...
Railroader70
They do not make AC4400's and SD90's anymore, just saying.
CCTCanada GE builds the AC44 for export. Their catalog actually goes back to the Dash 7 models.
I do also know there's a rebuild program for GP9's to turn them into GP20ECO's, so there's some hope for any of those in the lines
This is so beautiful 🤧👏🏼
Wow that is a lot of engines. I used to live in Richmond 78-85 and one time I went by a yard that was in the North part of the City. I want to think it was a RF&P yard, though What I recall doesn't look like pics I just looked up of the RFP but they also had tons of engines lined up and I was in heaven! No place to really stop and look in detail though.
Nice, I know I see one at least that went to a good home! The Wheeling and Lake Erie bought 7370 at 4:20
saw it yesterday, it has a new led headlight
Cool
I wonder how many locomotives are here? And how many if the EMD SD40-2's are here? Prob more then 350!
A US Diesel lover's dream!
Though I don't know much about US Diesels (more into UK designs), it's cool seeing hundreds of these lined up! Quite colourful, too!
I know this place. It is a rebuild facility. They totally rebuild these locomotives then resale them to small railroads and to companies over seas. This place was featured on Discovery channel on the series Great Structures.
I'd like to have a BN in my back yard!!!!! That would kick ass
I see more than one ex-Milwaukee Road dash-2 in there. Short fuel tank and hood-side bell tucked up just behind the cab. Weed-cutter plow on the rear pilot. Really miss seeing and hearing them howling up the hill through St. Louis Park. Wish TC&W would get a clue.
Douglas Skaalrud I don't think it'll be too long before CP grabs TCW before the BN can get it. Of course, if CP were smart, they'd buy up the entire Milw main to Miles City from the BN.
This is former Rock Island. Part of Kelly Yard in Silvis, Il.
A frota de locomotivas norte americana realmente é gigantesca!! Sonho em ver um trem de vocês pessoalmente
Each locomotive would have a story to tell . . .
I would love to see that Southern Pacific Tunnel motor/#9300 get restored...
MasterChef 117 4:34, I remember seeing this unit on a Pentrex video about Donner Pass from the 90's
Hell Yes!! I Love that Red Nose, She'll Always be My Favorite.
That is probably National Railway Equipment co. just north of Silvis, IL. They rebuild old locomotives into Gensets.
Yes, that's exactly what this is. The former Rock Island shops are now an NRE facility.
Not all locomotives in this video will be rebuilt into GenSets, most of them are actually for sale in there used tab on the website, I have seen various selection from GP30's to B40-8's
Wonder if all that locomotive could powered up and hooked onto each other how many cars could they carry?
Give some of them to museums! I know many of us here in the UK would love to static preserve some examples!
Please respond: What highway/freeway was it off?
Wow. Looks like a grave yard for trains. I thought they would be moving.
The best, most diverse and intriguing generation of diesels ever here. These days I don't even turn my head to look at the uniform model and color/scheme power consists on the road. Boooooring!
wow what a collection
That's be a hard place for me to leave. Nice vid.
Theres a TransKentucky Transportation Incorporated ( TTI ) slug in there! at 3:45
It is cheaper to retire older model engines, than it is to rebuild/refurbish them. The SKO lines, out here in Wichita, KS, buys those older engines, and then rebuilds them for use on their lines. The SKO is a subsidiary of WAMX, (Watkins America, Inc.); owned by the late Richard Watkins.
Great Video. Loved It.
Is this a refurbishing yard for locomotives? Or are they being scrapped?
A bit of both
How many?
Its the former Rock Island facility. Look it up in Wikimapia.
What a scrapyard.
Look at all those 4,000 to 5,000 gallon fuel tanks on the engines. How many still filled with fuel? Its time to strip them of parts and cut them up. a lot of good useful scrap sitting there. Watched this on March 7 2019. don't even know if they are still there.
NRE's website has the used locos for sale, as well as some rebuilt ones. ShmotzGaming BML54 Landaux
Tomcat101 I just went to their website to look, and they have a massive inventory, there's even some GP10's for sale! Only thing missing from the site is the price tag
Also what Rostand did you take?
Wowow I saw a old IC gp9 LH in the first 60 seconds
Wow what a catch!!
they need to have some historical foundation that keeps a locomotive from a no longer running railroad such as Conrail, Santa Fe, etc keeps it in original paint and puts it on display in a museum, in stead of being scrapped or re painted, who want's to start it with me :)
boatx22 there's already a bunch of them in existence, the main issue is that trains are expensive to buy :P
If only I had the money to save a few a pieces of railroad history!!
vettebecker1 funny thing is most of them seem to be for sale, whether it be original or remanufactured/upgraded
Yep, been there, wish I had the money and land so I could play all year.. That is next to the Rock Island line...
That's a Railfanners dream!
I would like to get ahold of about two dozen gp30's and another dozen sd 40-2's for passenger service across Minnesota, north of Minneapolis to Duluth then to Two Harbors then northwest to Hibbing west from there to Grand Rapids then to Bemidji and final destination to Grand forks connection to Amtrak again west. northern Minnesota needs the service. we'll call it the "Iron" in Ojibwe. "Biwabik RR"
I live in MN. This would never happen in this state. With the knuckleheads at the capitol jibbing and jabbing at each other. Pointing fingers at each other for who pays for what and stuffing tax dollars for their pet projects and failing as usual to get anything done. There once was a great rail system. Then buses came along, then flying anywhere you want. Even now that is getting expensive. Its great to ride a train. Try and tell this to the buffoons in public office and you will get a blank stare and they wonder what the hell you are talking about. I like your idea but like I said it will never happen.
Reagan Morgan I'll take a couple dash 7s
This would be the place to get them if you have the money. They will rebuild or refurbish the locomotive(s) for you.
I love it
Great idea, but they are freight service locomotives, so i would rather make a small railroad company
I think this is National Railway Equipment Co. It's a former Rock Island facility. The locomotives will be refurbished and sold or scrapped. They have a web site that details what they do. It's pretty interesting. Here's the link: www.nre.com/
do they scrap all them engines or do the rebuild or sell them. lots of nice old engines hate to see them cut up.
steiger 256 They'll part them out, but there's only so much of a need for older EMD (567/645) parts, and with GE, pretty much everything from the Dash 7 on up is still available new or reman from GE (Alco's and GE Uboats can also use the Dash 7 parts).
How are those junk! I would take the horn and the bell! And some other good parts too. Like the horn valve. But very cool video.
I've been to there and it's so cool I live near there so I go there alot
I like the 2 old Milwaukee Road SD40-2s. NREX 7356 And 6301
Western Maryland, CP some good ones. Great one
Saw a Factory fresh GP9 and 2 GP-38. not sure what version, but was told they are needed as the feeder routes can't handle SD-70s. NS outside of Memphis. North MS. Rails are old. shorter wheel base works better. Less ground.
Joe Hart The smaller 6-axle units are best for light rail as they spread the weight out better. GP's have to high of an L/V ratio.
Do you think they'd let someone get inside one of those?
I hope they are still there! I want to see it if I ever go to Illinois
I hope some will be restored put in museums
Great video. Rainfans dream.
This is National Railway Equipments former Rock Island Silvis shop.
Dang I think I saw a unit in Illinois Central Gulf paint at one point... that orange and white paint scheme. santa fe, conrail, UP, BN, BNSF galore...
PereMarquette1223 you did see one, and currently (July of 2018) there's an illinois central GP10 listed as for sale on their website
Someday I’ll will restore those locomotives as operational tourist attraction and display in railroad museum
Saw a few of the units around 3:05 in this vid showing them on their way to the yard:
A Must See - A 35 SD40-2 Locomotive Power Move!
I need to go there
Wonder if they sell builders plates?
A real railfans treasure trove to look at, just too bad they can't allow railfans access to look at all the engines sitting there, ohh well. Awesome stuff
This is so awesome!
Plenty of 645 parts; Dash-2’s forever!
Is this National Railway in Silvis, Il? Could be locomotives for parts for rebuilds.
Union pacific, Iowa interstate, Bn, Bnsf, Santa Fe, Conrail, Nrex, Illinois Central/Illinois Central Gulf, Hlmx, Furx, TTI, Csx, Rlox?, Southern Pacific, Railnet. I don't know the one with the split word on its side at 1:08. But that's every railway I spotted
I went here and got permission to look around all i want and look inside some of the engines
Destinee Meyer how hard was it to get permission to look around?
Is it a scrap yard where those locos getting scrapped
If you look on google maps at it, at the very top track are 3 Erie Lacawannas.
its a former rock island facility at silvis , il
That's a lot of locomotives.
It is not "Iowa and Interstate" railroad... it is "Iowa Interstate" No "And" in the name and IT IS the old Rock Island engine facility.
ILSRWY4 is the Iowa Interstate Railroad still in business or did it go under and get swallowed up by ConRail?
Amazing!!! It's a foamfest in there lol Subbed ;)
I have drone footage from here on my page. Go back every year for the last 4 years on there