| Tim,
In my 36 years with EMD Sales and Service, I don’t recall any railroad taking delivery of locomotives at LaGrange. Before 1970, that made no sense because the railroad would be subject to the heavy equipment tax. (RRs that operated entirely within Illinois had no alternative.) After 1970, as far as I know, it was possible for a railroad to take delivery at LaGrange, but EMD’s only railroad connection was the Indiana Harbor Belt. GE was serviced by a mainline RR at its gate, so live locomotives out the door were possible. We often shipped locomotives with a full charge of oil and, in warm weather, even a full charge of coolant. Both of these alternatives would be at customer request. On very rare occasions, with special arrangements, we would even ship a locomotive live to a near by shop. We would have a rider on board such units to ensure that all was well en route. Keep in mind that, after 1970, there were numerous RRs in the Chicago area that could receive and place locomotives in service. Santa Fe, BN and IHB all worked with other RRs to receive and place their locomotives in service. Most worked to their home RRs on a horsepower exchange basis. RRs like Soo Line,C&NW and several eastern RRs with local Chicago shops all received and placed their locomotives in service at their own shops. Most RRs sent "in plan"t inspectors to LaGrange during the manufacturing process, some for the entire period of construction. In 1994, EMD made its most unusual delivery. The first locomotive of an order by Irish Rail, no. 201, a model JT42HCW was flown from EMD’s London, Ont. plant to Dublin, Ireland in a Russian (Ukrainian) Antonov 124 cargo plane. Attached are links to a photo of the locomotive being delivered in Ireland and a video of the loading operation. There are several other videos of this delivery on line.
Before my time at EMD, there was a story of an industrial customer that ordered a single switcher from EMD. When it came time for delivery, the owner of the business arrived at LaGrange with cash in hand to pay for the locomotive. The only problem was that EMD had no provision to receive a cash payment, however, the problem was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO
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