A new industrial park, called "Swan Ranch Industrial Park", opened south of Cheyenne in 2011. The industrial park has access to both UP and BNSF, as well as I-25 and I-80. The industrial park will have its own shortline railroad, called the Swan Ranch Railroad. Currently, they have a couple of leased units. This SD40T-2 is one of the leasors. The shortened fuel tank indicates that it was clearly, at one point, a Rio Grande Tunnel Motor! Indeed that is correct. This was originally DRGW 5395. It went to UP 4018 on March 26, 1999. Just over a year later, it then was renumbered UP 8588 on April 10, 2000. Next up, on January 30, 2007, it went to UP 9869. This occurred shortly before being retired by UP. Good to see it has found new life in leasing service.
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Posted By Dean On Wednesday, July 22, 2015 At 2:04:12 AM (PT)
I'm not sure what the open compartment is, (possibly air brake valves and other components) but it's not the battery box. I believe the batteries are in the compartment just in front of that open cover, where the crew steps out of the front door. Note the long vent slots toward the top of that compartment.
Regarding the "leased units": the four I saw there in early June are all WAMX (Webb Asset Management) units from WATCO, the same parent company as the Swan Ranch RR. When I worked at SRRR the winter of 2013-14, this and GP30 WAMX 3021 were the only two we had. What little tracing we did indeed showed DRGW heritage of the 4155, and we also found an interesting history piece on the 3021 at http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3232823 (it also has a pic of 3021 and 4155 coupled up).
Posted By Ralph On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 At 7:17:32 AM (PT)
I thought I would never see a DRGW tunnel motor again. Thanks for sharing this image.
I think the open compartment under the cab is the battery box, and it appears empty. I'm hoping this is not an indication of this locomotive's eventual fate.
