HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — Hill Air Force Base is known for its cutting-edge work on high-flying jets, but on the west side of the base, mechanics are working every day on something a little closer to the ground.
The U.S. Army Defense Generator and Rail Center at Hill performs complete modification, repair and overhaul on locomotives used by the Department of Defense all over the county to haul everything from ammunition, coal and fuel to tanks and Humvees.
On average, the group overhauls three general-purpose locomotives every year.
Each locomotive weighs 120 tons, generates about 1,800 horsepower and requires 3,887 man-hours to overhaul.
"We essentially rebuild the locomotive from the ground up — it's bumper-to-bumper work," said Billy Funderburg, chief of the center. "There is not one bolt that isn't taken off."
The center has 50 employees, including office personnel, mechanics, electricians and machinists.
The crew completes rewiring, adds new components, cuts wheels, changes valves and even paints the locomotives.
Staffers also craft most of the locomotive parts on site, Funderburg said.
"Most of this stuff comes from the 1950s and '60s," he said, "so we have to manufacture it here on our own because it doesn't exist anymore and no one else makes it."
The group also sends out specialized teams for emergencies when a locomotive breaks down.
Working on 28 acres on the west side of the base, the group's setup includes facilities for cleaning and sandblasting, a paint shop and a storage warehouse.
"Basically, our facility here is like a mini depot," said Craig Knight, a section chief at the center.
A new locomotive would cost the government about $2 million, he said, but the group can overhaul the locomotives for an average of $565,000.
Most of the group's operations are centered in Building 1702, a massive, two-story brick building constructed in 1942 as part of the old Ogden Arsenal.
The facility provided shelter for work on regional locomotives during and after World War II.
The process was an essential part of early regional military activity, as the Arsenal relied heavily on railroads to transport goods around the installation and to other areas of the country.
Today, the center is the DoD's only rail repair facility.
When a locomotive is finished, it travels on a portion of the old Bamburger Rail Line, which can be seen at Hill from Interstate 15 as drivers enter Davis County from the north.
The line eventually connects to the Union Pacific rail yard in Ogden, and from there, the newly overhauled locomotive is on its way.
"Not a lot of people realize we are here doing this work," Funderburg said, "but it really is quite an interesting process."
Information from: Standard-Examiner, http://www.standard.net