Coors SW8 No. C988 is loaded onto a truck for the short trip to nearby Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado, on August 10, 2004. The locomotive was damaged in a wreck, stripped of usable components and donated to the CRM. The next day, Rio Grande GP30 No. 3011 (behind C988) will be moved in the same way. The CRM has no outside rail connection, with Coors providing short-term storage and a transfer point for arriving rail equipment. In the background, SW8 No. C987 is seemingly saluting a departing sister, while on the East Yard job switching boxcars. Both SW8s were built by EMD in July 1938 for Rock Island, and eventually rebuilt in 1981-82 into SW8s with 567BC blocks. More recently, they were updated by CEECO and NRE with further refinements like 567CR blocks and 645 engine components. Additionally, SW8 No. C987 was originally a Winton 201A-powered 600 hp SW switcher before EMD rebuilt this locomotive into a 600 hp SW900M in April 1957. Hey, when a locomotive is 75 years old, it’ll have a complicated history!
