MP15s

As you know, the Alaska Railroad no longer has those cute little MP15s running around the Anchorage yard. The railroad was receiving complaints about locomotive exhaust from residents living near the Anchorage Yard so getting rid of high maintenance MP15s derived a dual benefit. The units were was sold to the Broadway Rail and Equipment Company in Chicago in 2009. They turned their last revenue wheels for the ARR around 2:00 PM on March 3, 2009 and were pulled from service.

Broadway Rail turned right around and sold them and they are waybilled to Progress Rail in Tacoma. Unfortunately, they were not equipped with alignment control couplers and hence were banned from transport by the Class 1s. The owner contracted with Bob's Services in Anchorage to modify them and the ARR hauled them up to Bob's on the APU spur where the work was completed. They set sail southbound on ARMS Voyage 1006S on February 21, 2010 around 6:30 PM. Next, the GMTX leasing company acquired all four of the ex-ARR MP15 and it is rumored they've been sold to a company in Mexico.

Numbers 1551, 1552, 1553 and 1554 are now GMTX 203, 204, 205 and 206 respectively. Now let me see if I got this straight:

Progress Rail, Tacoma, WA
September/October 2011
Photos courtesy of Mark Gillings