DLA - Defense Logistics Agency
10/29/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/29/2024 07:38
Train loads of excess from DLA Disposition Services
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. -
The nonprofit organization Railroading Heritage of Midwest America recently acquired a diesel switcher locomotive donation through Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services from the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky.
A workman signals the crane operator as they lift part of a Diesel switcher off it's wheels and onto a flatbed semi for its move to Silvis, Illinois. The locomotive was turned in to DLA Disposition Service as excess from the Army and acquired by the nonprofit organization Railroading Heritage of Midwest America who plan to use it at their museum.
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The Silvis, Illinois-based RRHMA was founded in 1991 and promotes the history of railroading in the Midwest by preserving, restoring, operating, and interpreting historic locomotives and rail cars.
A workman signals the crane operator as they lift part of a Diesel switcher off it's wheels and onto a flatbed semi for its move to Silvis, Illinois. The locomotive was turned in to DLA Disposition Service as excess from the Army and acquired by the nonprofit organization Railroading Heritage of Midwest America who plan to use it at their museum.
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To move the 80-ton engine to its Illinois facility, RRHMA said they rented a 220-ton crane to load it. Due to weight restrictions, the locomotive was disassembled and loaded onto three semi-trucks, with the heaviest section weighing 56 tons.
Dennis Daugherty served with the 714th Battalion that while stationed at Fort Eustis, Virginia. The insignia for the 714th Battalion consist of a railroad engine which is representative of the character of the organization, while the semaphore with the "all clear" signal symbolizes the ability of the Battalion to get troops and supplies through.
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The acquisition was led by Dennis Daugherty, a volunteer with RRHMA who has more than 45 years of experience in railroading.
Dennis Daugherty served with the 714th Battalion that while stationed at Fort Eustis, Virginia. The insignia for the 714th Battalion consist of a railroad engine which is representative of the character of the organization, while the semaphore with the "all clear" signal symbolizes the ability of the Battalion to get troops and supplies through.
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"I was drafted into the U.S. Army August 1966 to August 1968," Daugherty said. Before being drafted, he was an apprentice diesel locomotive machinist with a major railroad.
The Army assigned him the Military Occupational Specialty of diesel locomotive repairman and machinist. His orders took him to Fort Eustis, Virginia, which he said was then home to the only active military railroad battalion, the 714th. Later, he was stationed in Korea and ended up as a machinist in an ordnance company.
After the Army, he went to work for what he called the "big railroads." But it wasn't long before he discovered railroad museums focused on preserving the history of steam engines.
"I've been all over the United States doing this," Daugherty said. "I have gone to England, and I've been to Africa and South America chasing trains - steam engines mostly. You know, steam is my thing."
The Diesel switcher locomotive donated through Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services from the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky sits in the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America facility in Illinois where restoration work will take place.
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Daugherty has also worked for railroad museums in Michigan and California.
The Diesel switcher locomotive donated through Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services from the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky sits in the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America facility in Illinois where restoration work will take place.
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While working in Michigan, he said he used DLA Disposition Services to acquire everything for the museum's machine shop. Later, while in charge of the California State Railroad Museum's shop in Sacramento, he again turned to DLA Disposition Services to acquire locomotives, machine tools, and forklifts.
The lathe was acquired from DLA Disposition Services sits in its new home in Illinois where the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America will use it to refurbish and maintain their collection of railroad locomotives and train cars like the one in the background.
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Now retired, he is volunteering with RRHMA to help establish a new facility in Illinois.
The lathe was acquired from DLA Disposition Services sits in its new home in Illinois where the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America will use it to refurbish and maintain their collection of railroad locomotives and train cars like the one in the background.
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"We're setting up a machine shop, and you know we needed everything," Daugherty said. "We had a big empty building with overhead cranes, basically. In order to do railroad work, you need a lot of stuff: forklifts and machine tools and everything else you can think of."
Just as before, Daugherty said he plans to continue to rely on DLA Disposition Services to equip the new machine shop.
"I know the surplus system because I've been doing it so long," he said.