TCRY Refurbishes locomotive

Tri-City & Olympia Railroad refurbishes locomotive By John Trumbo, Tri-City Herald The Tri-City & Olympia Railroad has a "new" refurbished diesel-electric locomotive rolling the rails between Kennewick and Richland. No. 33, a former Union Pacific engine, sports the TC&O yellow and black colors and logo while making daily morning runs from Kennewick's Washington Street interchange to the end of the line at Stevens Boulevard in the Hanford area. Kenneth Perkes, an accounting assistant at the railroad's main office in Kennewick, said No. 33 was acquired at an auction several years ago with other well used UP locomotives. "We used parts of some to put together a couple of engines," he said. The railroad's locomotive fleet of three consists of Nos. 31, 32 and 33, and two engines that became available when the Port of Benton acquired trackage from the Department of Energy on rail that is outside the Hanford area. The TC&O operates about 20 miles of rail for the port between Kennewick at Washington Street, along the Bypass Highway 240 and the mall, to its shops at Stevens Boulevard in Richland. The arrangement allows the TC&O to be UP's agent for switching and handling cars bearing freight to and from the Hanford area. Wednesday morning's run had Martin Romero and Gary Ogburn as crew, with Ogburn as engineer, Perkes said.