PORT GETS ENGINE FOR RAILROAD

The hours of hard work spent unloading the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority's new locomotive Thursday should pay off in years of income.

The General Motors locomotive, formerly Army property, was built in 1951 and overhauled in 1979. Dan Overbey, executive director of the port authority, oversaw its transportation from Fort Carson, Colo., to Scott City.

The port authority board in August authorized purchase of a locomotive, but it took awhile to find one.

"We looked at a used one in Illinois, but it wasn't in very good condition and the owner wanted $50,000," Overbey said. "Then the state surplus agency found one near Akron, Ohio, but NASA wanted it. A fax came thorough that this one was going to be available, but the government wanted an answer right away or they were going to auction it."

Overbey flew to Colorado to inspect the engine and was amazed at its condition. The board later voted to accept it.

As a government agency, the port authority didn't have to pay for the locomotive. The Army gave it to the General Services Administration, the GSA gave it to the state of Missouri and the state gave it to the port authority.

The costs came in the form of fees and transportation. The port authority had to pay the state a $7,500 processing fee, the railroad charged $6,000 for transportation, and materials to load and unload the locomotive totaled about $12,000.

On the open market, the locomotive, a 1,500-horsepower GP7, would have been worth about $125,000.

"If we're going to have a railroad, we've got to have a railroad engine," Overbey said. "We could have rented one, but that would get too expensive."

The port authority now allows access to trains, barges, trucks and aircraft. It recently formed Semo Port Railroad Inc. to operate a switch service on its 6-mile stretch of track, purchased in October.

The Semo track runs east to Scott City, connecting with Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads. The track also runs into Cape Girardeau, connecting with Burlington-Northern.

When a spur to the port is constructed, the port authority will have a way to transfer freight from trains to barges.

It took two weeks to get the locomotive from Colorado to Scott City. Dan Davis, a master mechanic with the Iron Mountain Railroad, spent Thursday working with crane operators and others to get the locomotive off a flat car and onto the track.

The wheels and the engine had to be separated, so workers unloaded the wheels first and put the engine on top of them. Davis connected the brakes and air pipes, and the locomotive should be operational by Monday or Tuesday. Its first runs will be to test the track and clear away any debris.

So far, there aren't any customers for the switch service. Overbey said that would have to change soon.

"It will cost over $40,000 a year to have a railroad whether we have customers or not," he said. "It's going to be good for the port to have a railroad, but the question is how fast we can have some traffic."