NEW HAVEN, CONN. – Six Connecticut Department of Transportation Electro-Motive FL9 locomotives, stored out of service since 2009, have found new homes from New England to Texas. The new owners include the Boston Surface Railroad Co. of Woonsocket, R.I.; Massachusetts Coastal Railroad, headquartered in East Wareham, Mass.; Webb Rail LLC, in partnership with the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum of Lenox, Mass.; and the Grapevine Vintage Railroad of Grapevine, Texas. All plan to restore their new acquisitions to running condition.
Earlier this year, the state posted the FL9s on an auction list, and the winning bidders were notified in August. Sale prices ranged from $51,100 to $93,100 per unit, according to a Department of Transportation spokesman. Three of the six stored cab units already are on their way to their new homes.
Boston Surface Railroad Co., which purchased No. 2027 (built as New Haven No. 2015 in 1957), has proposed operating commuter service over the Providence & Worcester Railroad between the railroad’s namesake cities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The company’s CEO, Vincent Bono, hopes to acquire additional FL9s or other cab units to power Boston Surface’s planned trains. The locomotive will be moved to Davisville, R.I., for mechanical work by the Seaview Transportation Company, Bono tells Trains News Wire.
Massachusetts Coastal Railroad, a southeastern Massachusetts freight operation, purchased two Connecticut FL9s, No. 2011 (originally NH No. 2038, built in 1960) and No. 2026 (NH No. 2007, built 1957). Chris Podgurski, president and chief operating officer, says the units will be assigned to the company’s Cape Cod Central passenger operation. Podgurski is pleased with the two FL9s the railroad has acquired, commenting on their good wheel condition and their Caterpillar head end power units. He remarked that FL9s will be returning to territory that they once covered while working for the New Haven.
Heading to the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum is Connecticut DOT FL9 No. 2024, which was built as New Haven No. 2058 in 1960, and was the second-to-last cab unit manufactured by EMD. BSRM teamed up with Webb Rail LLC of Fishkill, N.Y., owner of former New York Central observation car Babbling Brook, to acquire the historic locomotive. The FL9 is en route to BSRM’s station and museum in Lenox, Mass. Although the organization already is referring to the unit as No. 2058, museum officials tell News Wire that no decision has been made to restore its original number in the near future.
- Highlights from a recent Trains Magazine article