SILVIS, Ill. – Railroading Heritage of Midwest America (RRHMA) continues to make progress on several projects at its former Rock Island shop in Silvis. The group is planning to return to service former Union Pacific Challenger No. 3985, 2-10-2 No. 5511, and “Centennial” DDA40X diesel No. 6936.
National Railway Equipment, which shares the Silvis shop complex with RRHMA, has been working on No. 6936, making any repairs necessary to bring it back to operating condition. It is one of a class of 47 Centennials built for UP between 1969 and 1971, the largest diesel locomotives ever built in terms of size. They were named Centennials since their debut coincided with the Golden Spike Centennial in 1969. When repaired, No. 6936 will be the only operating Centennial of 13 preserved by UP.
Work continues on Union Pacific No. 5511, the sole surviving UP 2-10-2. The fire brick has been removed to facilitate an upcoming inspection of the firebox. Safety valves have been removed and are on their way for rebuilding, and the dynamo (used to generate electricity for headlights and lighting on the locomotive) has also been removed. No. 5511 was built by Baldwin in 1923 and last ran in the early 1950s.
Challenger 4-6-6-4 No. 3985 has had its safety valves been removed and sent out for rebuild. Lube lines are in the process of being removed in order to have new ones made. Cylinder and valve heads have been removed for cleaning and inspection; the majority of the valve gear has been removed for the rear engine. Inspection of stay bolts and the firebox continues, along with cleaning and scrubbing on the rest of the engine and frame. The front flue sheet is being prepped for removal and replacement. The inside of the cab is having items removed it as well, in preparation for rebuilding. No. 3985 was built by American Locomotive Co. in 1943 and last operated in 2010 as part of UP’s steam program.
RRHMA has been contracted by Union Pacific to rebuild Big Boy No. 4014’s original tender, converting it from coal to oil. No. 4014 currently uses No. 3985’s tender, which will be moved to Silvis once 4014’s tender rebuild is complete. Recently brand new wheels sets for the tender arrived at Silvis, but much work needs to be done to the tender before they can be installed. The tender to be rebuilt was originally paired with Big Boy No. 4015. It was common in the steam era for tenders to be changed out between engines.
RRHMA was recently hired by CPKC to repaint former Kansas City Southern business Veracruz. RRHMA crews sanded out old lettering, repaired damaged exterior paneling, and then primed, painted, and lettered the car in CPKC colors of Auburn Night Mist to match other cars in the former Canadian Pacific fleet. The car retains KCS lettering on the letterboard.
There is only a technical issue with saying these locomotives are, “former Union Pacific Challenger No. 3985, 2-10-2 No. 5511, and “Centennial” DDA40X diesel No. 6936.” RRHMA may own them now but they will always be UP locomotives. That’s a fact. You can’t change history with a bill of sale or donation record. Paint them in Zebra stripes or whatever but every knowledgeable rail fan will know who they ran for as they were all classic UP Steam in every sense of the word…
The EMD DDA40X is a 6,600 hp (4,943 kW) D-D locomotive, built by GM EMD. Union Pacific has marked DD40X on the cab exteriors, while EMD literature inconsistently refers to this model as either DD-40X or DDA40X.
These diesel-electric locomotives were the ultimate culmination of the company’s experiments with extremely powerful locomotives that began with its gas turbine-electric locomotives and DD35s.
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There is a reason for the “A”. It denotes “cab”. UP considered briefly building a cabless “B” unit when they first came up with the idea for these giants of the rails. After consideration of costs of maintaining a separate fleet of cabless boosters, much like the DD35 A & B’s the concept was decided against since any pairing of a DDA40X and contemporary UP rostered locomotives (generally SD-40-2’s and SD40-2H’s, geared for high speed) could be and were made with these engines without loss of performance or causing train handling issues.
The experiments with extremely powerful locomotives actually began in the late-1930’s with an unsuccessful steam turbine electric from GE.
In 1902, the Rock Island Line decided to build its largest railroad locomotive repair workshop in Silvis, on a 900-acre site between the railroad’s main line and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad’s Rock Island branch. Construction began on May 1, 1903; the facilities eventually included a general stores department, repair shop, 45-stall roundhouse, and two large freight yards east and west.
The need for cheap labor brought about a number of immigrants from Mexico, who either worked in the stores, the workshops or as part of the track laboring team. The railway developed housing to house all of its workers and families, which it rented to the workers at favorable rates which were possible under an agreement with the town that meant the occupants paid no property taxes. The Mexican section became known as La Yadra, which had its own Mexican-run general stores, and had a Mexican-themed band. When the band waned, the railway donated boxcars that had once housed its instruments were refurbished to create the Lady of Guadalupe church, dedicated on Easter Sunday in 1927. In 1929 the no property tax agreement came to an end, and the city authorities evicted the railway workers, many of whom moved their houses to the area that became second, third and fourth streets.
After The Rock was liquidated in 1980, the locomotive workshops, yard & facilities were used for storage of locomotives & railcars that would soon be sold off to other railroads. The facility would later be sold to National Railway Equipment, the workshops remained a maintenance and refurbishment hub for the wider North American railroad industry. NRE sold the facility to Railroading Heritage of Midwest America in late 2021, who have plans to refurbish the facility to maintain steam, heritage diesel and associated rolling stock, and develop a museum on the site.
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