SPCRR 581 "Katie"

A 5-ton Plymouth locomotive with a hydraulic transmission, originally gasoline-powered and later converted to diesel. Built in October 1968 as CN6663 (36" HSG B 5-ton D/H), it served as US Army 581, later becoming C0268 at Badger Ammunition Plant in Baraboo, Wisconsin. It then operated as Olin Corp OB-588 at Badger Ordnance Works, also in Baraboo. Eventually it was sold to a private collector.

We leased it from a museum member for several years before buying it in August 2004. Its nickname is "Katie." When the original yellow paint started showing its age, someone gave it a guerrilla spray paint job with rust-red primer. By 2016 that paint job had deteriorated badly, so we gave the engine a proper refurbishment over the winter, stripping it to bare metal and repainting and lettering it as SPCRR 1.

In winter 2018 we replaced the gasoline engine with diesel and added air brake controls and pump to meet state braking requirements for passenger trains. We renumbered it 581 in 2020. This industrial locomotive is used for operations, switching, and maintenance of way.