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As many of you know, the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, a narrow gauge line in southwest Colorado, survived into the 1950’s by operating a fleet of “Galloping Geese” they made in the 1930’s from second-hand Pierce-Arrows.
A reunion of the remaining Geese was recently held at the Colorado Railroad Museum. Of the seven Galloping Geese made, six survive (1 is a recreation).
As you can see from the photos on the site, most of the Geese have been modified over the years of hard service on the rag-tag railroad, but several still have at least part of the Pierce-Arrow body. Most still have the Pierce-Arrow radiator shell and hood and if you look close, you can see a few other Series 33/36 parts. I don’t think any are still using the original Pierce-Arrow engine.
This is a tangent to our Pierce-Arrow hobby, but kind of fun.
Enjoy…
Paul
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37118&whichpage=4
A newly-updated book about these home-builds titled “Tin Feathers Wooden Trestles and Iron Men” is available from the Colorado Railroad Museum at about $10 a copy. It includes much detail about when and how each of the 8 versions was built and operated. Pierce-Arrow engines were not retained in one or two. However the original engines that were kept remained in place until after World-War II. It’s estimated that some 300,000 miles were put on each of the Geese during the war. The Dual Valve engines were then replaced with war-surplus GMC truck engines, and Wayne bus bodies replaced the Pierce bodies as well.