By Eric Berger

A former Spokane, Portland & Seattle Alco FA-1 that had fallen to vandalism in Portland was scrapped in March after its owner realized they would be unable to move the locomotive from a now-landlocked industrial spur.

SP&S 866 was owned by the Northwest Rail Museum, a non-profit entity founded in 1986. The locomotive was scrapped with a handful of privately owned passenger cars that had also fallen to vandalism in recent years.

Built in 1950 as SPS 866A-1, the unit served briefly as Burlington Northern 4120 before it was retired in 1972. It then became Long Island Rail Road 613, one of six SP&S Alco cabs converted by General Electric into “Power Pack” units for use on Long Island Railroad push-pull commuter trains, along with most of the other FA units still extant on U.S. railroads in the early 1970s. They served the dual purpose of providing a control cab at the unpowered end of the trains and housing the system that generated Head End Power for the cars. The units were stripped of their traction motors and most had their Alco 244 prime movers replaced with a sled-mounted Detroit Diesel. That equipment had been removed from the 866, leaving it an empty shell.

Four of the other six SP&S FA-1s are believed to survive in northeastern states, the 857, 858, 864 and 860; 856 was scrapped by LIRR in the 1990s due to fire damage.

Clarification: A previous version of this story stated that the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation had been unable to move the FA and the rail cars that were scrapped. It should be noted that the rolling stock in question was never owned or controlled by ORHF.