Aaron Ferer & Sons, Omaha, Nebraska
Aaron Ferer is located adjacent to Union Pacific’s shop in Omaha. Used by UP for many dispositions of locomotives that could not be moved. The units were switched to Ferer as part of a yard move within Omaha yard limits.

Alstom, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Changed from GEC Alsthom on 22 June 1998. Performs repair and rebuild work for Helm, LLPX (the joint EMD/GATX leasing company), and others.

Alter Trading Co., Council Bluffs, Iowa
Alter Trading scrapped about 150 UP cabooses between 1986 and 1995. (712-328-2601, Mr. Barnes)

Azcon Corporation, Chicago, Ill.
Business office: 13733 South Avenue O, Chicago (312-362-0066)
Salvage yards:
Alton, Ill. (618-436-4200)
Hegewisch, Ill. (708-646-2300)
Madison, Ill.
Duluth, Minn.
Sharpsburg (Pittsburgh), Penn.

Originally known as Hyman Michaels, later known as Azcon Hyman Michaels Division of Azcon Corporation, Pittsburgh, Penn. In 1976 Hyman Michaels was bought out by a British firm, which formed Azcon to manage all of its interests in the United States. At first the new company was known as the Azcon Scrap Division, then as the Azcon Hyman Michaels Division. By the 1990s, the company was again in the hands of the original Hyman Michaels owners and the British no longer involved. Salvage yards are located at three Illinois locations: in Hegewisch, on South Avenue O in south Chicago; in Alton; and in Madison, which now leased to another company. Most of the UP locomotives sold to Azcon were scrapped at Alton, Ill., north of St. Louis. A few may have been scrapped at Madison and Hegeswisch. Azcon leased part of their facility at Hegeswisch to Chrome Locomotive in 1977, and this is where Chrome began their rebuild business. National Railway Equipment later leased the same Hegeswisch facility to do some of its work. (This information is from a telephone interview with Mr. Willard Winters of Azcon, and adds to information published in Locomotive Notes II, 118-9)

Bargains Galore, Portland, Ore.
Business office: 532 NE Davis, Portland, Ore. (503-231-4044)

Salvage yard located in Vancouver, Wash., served by BN. Some locomotives may have been shipped to that location, then re-shipped again to other locations. Some units may have actually been scrapped there. Bargains Galore acted as a middleman in the sale of retired railroad locomotives and many units were moved directly from railroad property to the final destination, without going to Bargains Galore’s actual location. They bought several UP units, apparently for possible resale. Some were resold to Diesel Electric Service, St. Paul, Minn. Most locomotives purchased by Bargains Galore were scrapped by either Joseph Simon & Sons, or by General Metals, both of Tacoma, Wash.

Chattahoochee Locomotive Co., Cornelia, Ga.
Business office: 198 North Main St., Cornelia, Ga.
Shops in:
Cornelia, Ga.
Pickens, S.C.

Chrome Crankshaft
Illinois location: 6010 South New England Avenue, Chicago (707-586-3030)
California location: 6845 East Florence Drive, Bell Gardens, Calif. (562-806-5231)

Varlen Corporation, of Napierville, Ill., purchased control of both Chrome Crankshaft of Illinois and Chrome Crankshaft of California in 1969. Varlen also owns Prime Manufacturing Corp., a well known manufacturer of locomotive equipment, and Keystone, a manufacturer of locomotive draft gears. The three companies are operated under the Varlen Locomotive Group name. (708-420-0400, Richard Welleck)

Chrome Crankshaft Locomotive Sales Co. was organized in September 1977 by Mr. Lawrence Beal, who was a vice president of Chrome Crankshaft of Illinois. Chrome Locomotive Sales remained under the direct control of Chrome Crankshaft of Illinois until the former Rock Island shop at Silvis, Ill., was purchased in 1981. At that time the company was reorganized as Chrome Locomotive of Illinois, with facilities at Silvis and on South Avenue O in Chicago. The facility at South Avenue O was the location, along with at least one other minor location, where Chrome rebuilt many locomotives for the resale market, including former Milwaukee Road SW1200s and GE 80 ton center-cabs for the U. S. Navy, and 60 ton Baldwin RS4TCs for the U.S. Army. This facility was sold to NRE in 1990, along with the Chrome Locomotive shop in Silvis.

Chrome Locomotive Co. was organized in early 1985 to market the locomotive rebuilding and sales of the Chrome Crankshaft companies.

Chrome Companies was the informal marketing name used to market the total railroad equipment services of Chrome Locomotive and Chrome Crankshaft of both Illinois and California. The locomotive rebuilding and parts services of the two Chrome Crankshaft companies, and of Chrome Locomotive of Silvis were marketed as The Chrome Companies from 1983 to about 1990.

Chrome's two facilities in Illinois and California both rebuild locomotive crankshafts, camshafts, and axle gears. Neither facility has rail access, and neither has completed any locomotive rebuilding activity.

Chrome had a salvage yard in Southern California, first at Alhambra, then briefly at Mojave, and then at San Bernardino. The San Bernardino facility was located adjacent to Santa Fe’s yard and, during 1992, was in the process of being closed, reflecting Chrome Crankshaft’s exit from the locomotive rebuilding market.

In June 1990 the facilities and interests of Chrome Locomotive were sold to National Railway Equipment.

David J. Joseph Co., Cincinnati, Ohio
Largest scrap metal broker in the continental United States. Salvage yards that scrap railroad equipment are located in Norfolk, Neb., Plymouth, Utah (business office located at Midvale, near Salt Lake City), and Jewett, Texas. These yards are adjacent to the steel processing plants of Nucor Steel Co., where the scrap metal is processed into various steel products.

EconoRail

Erman-Howell Division, Erman Corporation, Bannockburn, Ill.
Salvage yard located in Turner (Kansas City), Kansas.

General Metals, Tacoma, Wash.
Business office: 1902 Marine View Drive, Tacoma, Wash. (206-572-4000)

Scrapped several UP locomotives units for themselves, and for Bargains Galore, of Portland, Ore.

Gray Supply Co., North Little Rock, Ark.
Located adjacent to UP’s Jenks Shop complex in North Little Rock. No longer in business. Gray Supply scrapped locomotives for itself, and acted as agent for General Electric on UP trade-in units that could not be moved. Gray Supply also scrapped some ex-CRI&P GP40s that Precision National had purchased from UP.

Great Northern Equipment Co., of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Units leased to, and marked for, Colorado & Eastern Railway.

Great Western Railway (see OmniTRAX, Inc.)

Helm Financial Corporation, San Francisco, Calif.
In business since 1979-80. Helm was one of the first, in 1984, of the leasing companies to become involved in the locomotive operating-lease market. Locomotives were originally leased by Helm under both HL, for Helm Leasing, and NHL, for National Helm Leasing, a joint venture between Helm and National Railway Equipment. Helm also had a joint venture with CSX, called Helm Atlantic, or HATX. The current fleet operates under either HLCX marks or HLLX marks. (415-398-4510, Dick Kirchner, Bill Petersen)

Illinois Scrap Processing Co., Chicago, Ill.
A subsidiary of Pielet Brothers Trading Co. until 1988. Sold in 1988 to Cozzi Iron & Metal, of Chicago. No longer in the railroad equipment salvage business. Salvage yard on 9300 block of Ewing Avenue in southeast Chicago. Associated (until 1988) with St. Louis Auto Shredding of East St. Louis, Ill.. (312-721-1100, Cozzi 312-254-1200, Albert Cozzi)

Independent Locomotive Service, Inc., Bethel, Minn.
Shop located in Bethel, Minn.

Industrial Maintenance Service, Hammond, Ind.
IMS started its business in roundhouse space leased from the railroad where Mr. Willard Winters, now retired from Azcon Corporation, was roundhouse foreman. This is also where Mr. Will Burroughs, of National Railway Equipment, and earlier of Chrome Locomotive, got his start in the locomotive rebuild business.

Johnson Rail Services, Cornelia, Ga.
In early 1986 Johnson Rail Services was no longer soliciting locomotive business due to litigation problems. All of their work was being handled by Mr. Johnson’s daughter and son-in-law, doing business as Chattahoochee Locomotive Works, adjacent to the Johnson Rail Services facility in Cornelia, Ga. By the mid 1990s, Johnson had recovered and was doing business as Johnson Railway Service, still located in Cornelia, Ga.

Joseph Simon & Sons, Tacoma, Washington
Scrapped several units for themselves and for Bargains Galore, of Portland, Ore. Simon left the locomotive scrapping business during mid 1986. (2202 East River Road, 206-272-9364, Phil Simon)

Livingston Rebuild Center, Inc., Livingston, Mont.
Shops in Livingston, Mont.
Ottawa, Ill.
Richland, Wash.

Metro East Industries, Inc.
Business office: Fairview Heights, Ill.
Shops in:
East St. Louis, Ill.
Moberly, Mo.

Mid America Car, Inc., Kansas City, Mo.
Business office: 1523 North Monroe St., Kansas City, Kansas
Shop at Kansas City, Mo.

Morrison Knudsen Co., Boise, Idaho
Shops located at Boise, Idaho; Hornell, N.Y.; and most recently at Mountaintop, Penn. Locomotive abd rail car manufacture and rebuild business reorganized as MK Rail, then again as Motive Power Industries.

Motive Power Industries, Inc.
Business office: 1200 Reedsdale St., Pittsburgh, Penn. (888-674-7697)
Shops in:
Boise, Idaho
Mountaintop, Penn.

Motive Power Industries (MPI) was formerly M-K Rail, the former railroad equipment interests of Morrison Knudsen, Inc.

Naporano, Railroad Division (Naporano Iron & Metal), Newark, N.J.
Business office: Foot of Hawkins St., Newark, N.J.
Salvage yard and shop at Newark, N.J.

National Railway Equipment, Dixmoor, Ill.
Business office: 14400 Robey, Dixmoor, Ill. (708-388-6002, Mr. Pat Frangelia, Elmer Dobbles
Shops in:
Dixmoor, Ill.
Hegewisch, Ill. (now closed, 13601 South Avenue O)
Silvis, Ill. (former CRI&P, and Chrome, shop, 309-755-6800)
Mt. Vernon, Ill. (former Precision National shop)

Organized in 1980 by Mr. Lawrence Beal. NRE’s first known locomotive rebuilding effort was in June 1984, after Mr. Beal, along with Mr. Will Burroughs and Mr. Pat Frangelia, left Chrome Locomotive in late 1983. That effort was the preparation of nine Kennecott high-cab GP39-2’s for lease and later sale to Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad. NRE leased warehouse space in the Clearfield Freeport Center in northern Utah and reconditioned the Kennecott units, including cutting down the cabs to normal height. This contract was completed in November 1984, and was done for Helm Financial, in one of that company’s first projects in the locomotive market.

NRE moved into its own facility in October 1985, when it acquired the shop of mining equipment supplier Roberts & Schaeffer in Dixmoor, Ill., a suburb located in southwest Chicago.

In June 1990 the facilities and interests of Chrome Locomotive were sold to National Railway Equipment. NRE added the two former Chrome shops (both the shop in Hegewisch on South Avenue O, and the former Rock Island shop in Silvis) to its capability to completely serve the railroad locomotive rebuilding, second-hand locomotive sales, and locomotive leasing markets. The shop in Silvis is known as National Railway of Silvis, and completes both the rebuilding of railroad locomotives and the heavy repairs and modifications of railroad cars.

In 1997, NRE purchased the Mt. Vernon, Ill., shops of the bankrupt Precision National Corp.

The first locomotive seen with NRL (National Railway Leasing) reporting marks was ex ATSF GP7R 2054 in early October 1988, in the Chicago area. Other marks for NRE include NHL (National helm Leasing) and NREX, for locomotives leased in Mexico.

OmniTRAX, Inc. (OmniTRAX Leasing Ltd.)
Great Western Railway (GWRX)
Business office: 252 Clayton St., Denver, Colo.
web page: www.omnitrax.com
Shops in:
Chicago, Ill. (GWR)
Cicero, Ill.
Council Bluffs, Iowa (GWR)
Loveland, Colo.
Witchita, Kansas

Formed in 1986 as the Great Western Leasing Co., subsidiary to Great Western Railway. OmniTRAX was formed in about 1991 to take over the leasing activities of Great Western Leasing. Parent company of both Great Western Railway and OmniTRAX is owned by Mr. Pat Broe, of Denver. Original shop located in Loveland, Colo. (Great Western Railway). Other shops located in Wichita, Kansas (Kansas Southwestern Railway), and Cicero, Ill. (Manufacturers’ Junction Railway). The first locomotive to carry the OmniTRAX lettering was ex-C&NW 4560. In 1995, OmniTRAX owned a fleet of over 400 former C&NW, AT&SF, and SP locomotives; many were in regular service on its affiliated railroad companies, and in lease service for industrial customers. Managed by John Gallagher, former superintendent of C&NW’s Oelwein, Iowa, shops. (Loveland: 970-667-6883; Wichita: 316-263-3240 [Bob Kramer]; John Gallagher: 3310 Woodcrest Dr., Bettendorf, Iowa 52722-5378, 800-852-5646)

OmniTRAX operates these 12 railroads:
Central Kansas Railway (CKRY), Wichita, Kansas
Chicago Rail Link (CRL), Chicago, Ill.
Chicago, West Pullman & Southern Railroad (CWP), Chicago, Ill.
Council Bluffs Railway (CBGR), Council Bluffs, Iowa
Georgia Woodlands Railroad (GWRC), Washington, Georgia
Great Western Railway of Colorado (GWR), Loveland, Colorado
Great Western Railway of Oregon (GWR), Lakeview, Oregon
Kansas Southwestern Railway (KSW), Wichita, Kansas
Manufacturers’ Junction Railway (MJ), Cicero, Ill.
Northern Ohio & Western (NOW)
Newburgh & South Shore Railroad (NSR), Cleveland, Ohio
Panhandle Northern Railroad (PNR), Borger, Texas

Peaker Services Incorporated, Brighton, Mich.
Peaker started in 1971 as a service company near Detroit doing maintenance on EMD engines used in stationary power plants, called "peaker" units, hence the company’s name. The company moved to their present location in 1978 and greatly enlarged their facilities in 1984. Because of their expertise with EMD engines they got into rebuilding EMD switchers, and are now a supplier of rebuilt locomotives and locomotive components.

Phoenix Railway Corporation

Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal Co., Argo, Ill.
Business office: 7955 West 59th Street, Argo, Ill. (708-594-7171, John Porter and Don Gottschlich)
Salvage yards in:
Argo, Ill.
Summit, Ill

Also operates as Scrap Service Co. in Arlington Heights, McCook and Joliet, Ill.. (Not to be confused with Pielet Brothers Trading Co., Des Plaines, Ill., which is a different company.)

Pielet Brothers Trading Co., Des Plaines, Ill.
Parent company of St. Louis Auto Shredding Co., and (until 1988) Illinois Scrap Processing Co. Owned by Mr. Irv Pielet, who started the Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal in the late 1940s, and was the exclusive scrapper for EMD from about 1954 (when they started taking in large numbers of trade-in locomotives) to about 1984. Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal Co. was sold to its current owners in 1975. In 1975, Mr. Irv Pielet started St. Louis Auto Shredding. In 1978, he organized Illinois Scrap Processing Co., first in St. Louis and later at its location in southeast Chicago. Illinois Scrap was sold to Cozzi Iron & Metal in 1988.

Precision National Corporation, Mount Vernon, Ill.
Originally called Precision Engineering Co. (PECO). First known efforts in the railroad locomotive supply industry was in the purchase, and leasing-out, of several former MKT EMD F-units in the early 1970s. Bankrupt in 1997, shop in Mt. Vernon sold at auction to National Railway Equipment.

PLM (Preferred Lease Management), Chicago, Ill.
Subsidiary of Rail Car Maintenance. PLM purchased 10 ex UP SD40s from Wilson. The units were refurbished by Wilson, painted dark blue, and lettered with large, white PLM lettering on side of unit. Because the 10 SD40s were not rebuilt or modernized in any way, they sat un-leased for a lengthy time, with many in the railfan community referring to PLM as meaning, "please lease me." All ten units were thoroughly remanufactured to SD40M-2s by MK at Mountaintop and leased to CP for the startup of its newly acquired Delaware & Hudson. The units were subsequently sold to MK and used as part of its national lease fleet.

Progress Rail Services Corp.
Business office: 1600 Progress Drive, Albertville, Ala.
Shops in:
Corbin, Ky.
DeCoursey, Ky.
Green Cove Springs, Fla.
Sidney, Neb.
Northport, Neb.

Progress Rail purchased numerous SP, SSW, and D&RGW retired locomotives. Many have found their way into the national lease fleets of other companies.

Railway Motive Power Services, Mead (Spokane), Wash.
Located in a Spokane industrial park. In the process of constructing a new facility, to be ready by June 1990. (Locomotive Notes II 135-7)

RELCO Locomotives, Inc. (Railway Equipment Leasing Corp.), Minooka, Ill.
Business office: 113 Industrial Ave., Minooka, Ill. (800-435-6091, Howard Clark)
Shops in:
Minooka, Ill.
Joliet, Ill. (now closed)
Provo, Utah (Geneva Steel)
St. Gabriel, La.
Baytown, Texas
Knoxville, Tenn.
Vancouver, Wash.

RELCO has been in business since 1961. RELCO also has a shop in San Gabriel (Los Angeles), Calif., which is actually a large garage that they use for their fleet of service trucks. During 1990, the Los Angeles location is responsible for the maintenance of 32 locomotives leased out to various locations in Southern California and in Texas. (Los Angeles information from LN II 138-14)

Rescar, Inc.
Business office: 1101 31st St., Suite 250, Downers Grove, Ill. (630-963-1114)
Paints UP locomotives under contract at its Hudson, Colo., facility, which is served by BN.

Republic Locomotive Works, Greenville, S.C.
Republic started business as Rail Rhodes, organized by Lewis Rhodes in 1980. Mr. Rhodes started his company while employed at General Electric’s Chamblee (Atlanta), Ga., plant. During 1978, he and a representative of the U. S. Navy toured all of the Navy’s railroad facilities to review the need to rebuild the Navy’s railroad locomotives. Rail Rhodes was first located at Cornelia, Ga., adjacent to Johnson Rail Services, who contracted to do Rhodes’ heavy frame and carbody sheet metal work. To expand the services that he could offer, in early 1981 Rhodes moved his company north to Greenville, S.C., and changed the name to Republic Locomotive Works. The first locomotive to be rebuilt at the new Greenville location was a USMC 80 ton GE from Albany, Ga., completed by Republic in July 1981. By 1986 Republic had rebuilt locomotives for the U. S. Navy, the U. S. Marine Corps, the U. S. Army, and the Defense Logistics Agency.

Scrap Service Co.
Business office: 1546 North Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, Ill. (708-259-6868)
Salvage yards in:
Arlington Heights, Ill
Joliet, Ill.
McCook, Ill. (near EMD factory)

Subsidiary of Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal Co. The Scrap Service salvage yard at McCook does almost all of the scrapping of EMD’s trade-in locomotives, along with much of the scrapping of GE’s trade-in locomotives. At McCook, the company is capable of two men scrapping a single locomotive in one day.

Smith & Chambers, Neodesha, Kansas
Scraps rail cars nationwide, using mobile crews. Salvage and recycled parts yard in Neodesha.

St. Louis Auto Shredding, East St. Louis, Ill.
Organized as subsidiary of Pielet Brothers Trading Co., Des Plaines, Ill., in 1975. (Not to be confused with Pielet Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal, which is a different company). Associated with Illinois Scrap Processing Co. until 1988. About 100-150 railroad locomotives were scrapped at St. Louis from 1975 to 1988, when they stopped bidding on railroad locomotive scrapping business. (618-271-7100, Ed Carcut)

Southwest Railroad Car Parts Co.
A subsidiary of South West Railway Service, San Antonio, Texas. Salvage yards in Longview and Newby, Texas.

VMV Enterprises, Paducah, Ky.
Location is the former IC/ICG shops in Paducah. VMV is associated with the Paducah & Louisville Railroad, which purchased the former ICG line between those two cities.

WATCO, Inc., Coffeyville, Kansas
WATCO operates switching services for industrial customers.

Wilson Railway Corporation, Des Moines, Iowa
Started as D. A. Wilson Co. Shops in Des Moines, Iowa. Formerly located in Spanish Fork, Utah, and earlier located in Utah inside the property of Geneva Steel, formerly USS-Geneva Works. Wilson had the leased locomotive and locomotive maintenance contract for Geneva but lost it in mid 1989 to RELCO. Wilson moved to the former AMF factory in Spanish Fork, located on D&RGW’s Tintic Branch. In addition ao other work completed at Spanish Fork, Wilson rebuilt several former MKT GP7s. The Spanish Fork facility was closed in April 1991.