A Home-built Locomotive – Southern San Luis Valley D-500

September 14, 2020August 17, 2024 vintagedieseldesign1 Comment

In Blanca, Colorado, East of Alamosa and at the start of the D&RGW’s La Veta Pass line, was the interchange with the San Luis Valley railroad, a 30 some mile shortline, operating a mix of hand me down steam power. In 1950, the railroad purchased former D&RGW idler car #010798, which started life as D&RGW 2-8-0 964. These idler cars allowed standard gauge engines to bring narrow gauge cars between Alamosa and Antonito Colorado, and vice versa.

The SLV had a crazy idea, and opted to create their own locomotive. They had the notion to use rubber tires for traction, placed between the sets of freight car trucks. A Ford Flathead V8 engine powered the contraption. Be sure to check out this link for an Otto Perry photo of this engine – https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll22/id/67200

Well, it did not work. The tires apparently were not up to this task and would blow out often on the 30 mile railroad, and the engine was sidelined as a switcher before being taken apart.

In 1953 the railroad was reorganized as the Southern San Luis Valley, with new traffic shipping out chilled lettuce as the main industry served. The old idler flat car was retrieved, and a new locomotive idea was brought to the table. The old rubber traction system was removed, and a chain drive directly to the axles was used (more on this shortly). By 1957 the railroad was reduced to just a few miles in the Blanca area.

The new locomotive, dubbed the D-500, was powered by an International Harvester UD-24 diesel engine…

…which in turn drove a Cat hydraulic transmission..in turn feeding into a Euclid truck axle. This truck axle was connected to a sprocket turning a double roller chain, which was reduced down to another sprocket, that went down onto one of the trucks.

*Click for larger* – note the engine is not even on track anymore!

The main drive chain (visible just over the brake lever) drove the wheel, with said wheel also chain driving the wheel on the adjacent truck. Holy moving parts, Batman! This system must have been an absolute nightmare to keep in check and working correctly, but apparently it did just that..

Inside, the D-500 is pretty spartan..a handbrake wheel, and the assortment of shifters and throttle levers. Pretty good view though!

Looking down from the engineers seat, is a small little sliding window to look down at the engine.

A pile of old sprockets sits in side..

Both sides of the locomotive have ballast boxes, with one side full of freight car axles and old chains.. and the other various chunks of metal and cutup wheels.

Here is a 1978 photo by Jim Gavin of the D-500. Note the large double roller chain visible. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1231372

The Southern San Luis Valley would continue to operate until 1996 when they shut down, and essentially left the equipment abandoned. The “assets” and ROW were purchased by the San Luis and Rio Grande Railway in 2007 simply for car storage, with the two SSLV locomotives left to rust away..

The second SSLV engine on the property, sitting next to the D-500 is former US Army/Utah Power & Light Plymouth ML3 #1. They purchased this in 1977 in non running condition. An engine was found, but the project was never finished, and the engine sits sans hood.

The pair of SSLV engines sit abandoned in a lot today. I sincerely hope that the D-500 can be preserved. As ugly as it is, it is a true testament to shortline railroading and the ingenuity put forth to keep operating on a shoestring budget.

Bob Griswold called the D-500 the “Slow moving conglomerate of Caterpillar, International Harvester, Euclid and other assorted moving parts and mechanisms” in his book Colorado’s Loneliest Railroad – the San Luis Southern. I found a copy of this on my way home and immediately picked it up. While I have yet to fully read it, its a fantastic look at this little railroad.

One last look at the D-500. Unfortunately the sun was not in my favor for my visit to these relics. I wonder if you rev it up and dump the clutch if it will do a burnout..

Summer 2024 update! The D-500 is safe! The locomotive has been moved into downtown Blanca, and placed on display under a covered pavilion. It is currently being prepped for a repaint as well.

Vintage Diesels In The Field

September 6, 2020September 6, 2020 vintagedieseldesign4 Comments

Literally.

This will be the first of a handful of posts about things I stumbled on during the last few weeks and a 7,703 mile road trip.

One of the stops was Tillamook, Oregon. Tillamook was formerly home to the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad, a former Southern Pacific line that suffered some severe washouts about 10 years ago, and was landlocked.

The railroad once served an industrial park that was formerly a Naval Air Station – now home to the Tillamook Air Museum, housed in a former blimp hanger. So, we made a quick trip over to see if anything was outside, as unfortunately we did not have time to go through the museum.

Naturally, pulling into the lot, I spot an EMD in the field. I took a stroll over and find another..

Sitting there were two EMD 16-567C engines. The railroads fleet was once made up of several GP and SD9 locomotives, the majority of which were scrapped a few years ago. I assume these were either leftovers from the scrapping, or just parts engines they once kept around. Lots of rusty old machine shop equipment sat along with them.

These things are pretty well junk having been sitting in the Oregon elements for a number of years..but hey, old engines are old engines!

In the adjacent lot next to the engines was some of Oregon Coast Scenic’s stored equipment, as well as POTB SD9 4406. Not sure who owns this one these days, as it does not appear on their roster.

The Tillamook Air Museum blimp hanging is downright massive – I hope to get back one day to check it out. Outside is a mini-guppy plane.

Just up the road is the Oregon Coast Scenic, a small tourist railroad operating on the former POTB tracks that are still intact, which the day we were there was running with McCloud River 25. If you are in the area, be sure to check them out. A neat little ride on literally, the Oregon Coast.

Port Of Tillamook 101 is owned by the scenic railroad, and was painted by her former owners in a cow inspired paint job, homage to the areas Dairy industry.

Former Great Northern F7 274 is one of the railroads diesel’s. Also up the road is the Tillamook Country Smokers Jerky factory outlet that I highly recommend, my wallet, does not.

Be sure to check out the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad – https://oregoncoastscenic.org/

F-M Diesel-Electric Proposal

August 16, 2020 vintagedieseldesignLeave a comment

I am about to head out on a 3 week trip, so before heading off I will leave the blog with something cool – A 1955 F-M proposal package for a Diesel-Electric drive tug. Unfortunately, it seems F-M was never really able to get a foot hold in the commercial DE drive market, one dominated by Cleveland Diesel. However, F-M was able to sway both the US and Canadian Coast Guards, and several classes of vessels were built, including the 140′ Bay Class Ice Breakers. The tug in the design, while just a sketch, looks strikingly similar to the Reading Railroad’s Harold J. Taggert. Click on all of the images below for larger versions.