| Richard Samuels first full size, standard guage, locomotive |
| Last Update: November 29, 2007 |
| Southern Pacific "Leroi" |
| This locomotive is Mr. Samuels very first locomotive and it most certainly holds sentimental value for the Samuels family. This 1941 Davenport 20 tonner was built in August 1941 originally for the U.S. Army, No. 7706. This little Davenport 20 tonner was used for much of its life by the Southern Pacific where it switched cars and locomotives around at the Brooklyn Yard shops in Portland. It was last lettered as the SPMW 570. At some point, it ended up in the Schnitzer scrap yard under the Ross Island Bridge. In the mid 1980s, Mr. Samuels noticed it and tried to convince the scrap yard owner to sell it. At first we wanted too much money for it. Mr. Samuels did not own a railroad yet, but his steel fabrication shop property was located on the Portland Traction Company line and he had some track on his property. Eventually he was able to convince the scrap yard owner to sell it for about $2000. It was shipped by truck to the Steel fabrication shop, where Mr. Samuels went about restoring it, including a Cummins diesel engine. Mr. Samuels did occasionally take the Davenport out on the PTC line during after hours when it wasn't operational. Not only is this Mr. Samuels first locomotive, but its first locomotive of his own that he operated on what is now the Oregon Pacific East Portland branch. The name "Leroi" comes from the Leroi gas engine was originally installed. Later a Budda diesel engine was swapped in and Mr. Samuels installed the Cummins diesel when he purchased it. The Davenport was later given to the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society, perhaps in the hopes that it would once again be put to use as a shop switcher at Brooklyn where the SP 4449 and SP&S 700 steam engines are stored. However, it's since been put into storage on a siding somewhere in the Portland area and has fallen into disrepair and become a victim of vandalism. |
| The Davenport being hauled by a lowboy to its now home at Samuels Steel shop in Milwualkie in the mid 1980s |
| At it appears today on a siding somewhere in the Portland area. |
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