If you have the money, you can buy anything, including diesel locomotives.
The big problem is what to do with it once you own it.
You can buy used locomotives, but they are very expensive right now and in very short supply. Many of the older ones that were around have been scrapped to take advantage of high steel prices and others are being recycled into "Green Goats" and the like.
LC
There are several places selling used locomotives; operable standard-gauge Diesels start at maybe $20,000 and go up from there. Try D. F. Barnhardt, Ozark Mountain Railcar, or Rail Swap. They sometimes have steam locomotives too. Last I checked, ex-Southern Pacific 1744 (a 1901 2-6-0) was listed for $800,000 and claimed to be in operable condition.
If you want to rent one for the short term, there are places that will charter you a locomotive for an hour and provide you with an engineer. I did this at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga in August and had a lot of fun. I ran a EMD GP-7. They've got about 2.5 miles of line you run up and down, including grades over 2% and several bridges. They wouldn't let me run through Missionary Ridge Tunnel, afraid of the liability if the locomotive turned a trespasser into roadkill while a charterer was at the throttle (although the conductor's side has an emergency brake handle).
There are also places where you can charter a steam locomotive, maybe Neveda Northern?
P.S.
With the charter, I drove the locomotive; the TVRM engineer was there to take it out of and into the shop area, and to supervise me.
Don't forget Larry's Truck. (you can do a web search).
As mentioned, once you purchase the unit, what are you going to do with it and where will you park it? How about transporting it? Whether it runs under its own power or needs to be shipped the costs are usually pretty stiff, especially with the liability issues.
About 20 years back I remember reading that GG1s were being sold for $5,000 apiece! However transporting one to destinations across state lines easily exceeded that cost.
Wasn't there a guy that bought an F40 a year or two back? Put it in his back lot but unfortunately the unit was being vandalized at night?
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
The days of buying a locomotive for $20,000 are over. You might be able to get a junker in the $45,000 to $65,000 range. Even a decent running GP9 will run over $100,000 nowadays. I just saw GP39-2s advertised for $375,000 each. Hope you have deep pockets.
Also, Antonio correctly points out issues with what you will do with a locomotive once you buy it. To even operate a locomotive you must have a locomotive engineer's license. Although some excursion lines and museums have "Enghineer for an Hour" programs, all require some training and at least a temporary certificate and close supervision. You might just as well hire out on the railroad where you can run their locomotives and they pay you for it rather than having your own that you have to pay for. Just the fuel for a couple hours running will get pretty expensive over time.
TomDiehl wrote: If you have the money, you can buy anything, including diesel locomotives. The big problem is what to do with it once you own it.
If you're thinking about buying one to lease back to someone to operate, consider the experience of investors (speculators?) who bought unequipped box cars in the late 1970's, leasing them to short lines with the hope of making money on per-diem payments. It was quite the fad for a while and made for some interesting train consists but most of the investors took a pretty big hit after the whole thing played out.
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
NeO6874 wrote:1. buy old loco2. repaint/repair3. ...4. PROFIT!Regardless of what i could (or could not) do with an old loco, I think it would be really cool to actually own one... although I'd need to be a multi-billionaire with a small island or something so I could actually lay some trackage and have the maintenance facilities req'd to keep it operable... whats the fun in owning it if you can't use it?
Why not just acquire a small short line and operate it. You can take courses in how to be an engineer and get certified and run it that way. Of course you may need a bunch of that cash to keep it going, but at least you'll earn cash too...
Hmmm. Found an old ATSF CF-7 for only $99,000...
Limitedclear wrote: NeO6874 wrote:1. buy old loco2. repaint/repair3. ...4. PROFIT!Regardless of what i could (or could not) do with an old loco, I think it would be really cool to actually own one... although I'd need to be a multi-billionaire with a small island or something so I could actually lay some trackage and have the maintenance facilities req'd to keep it operable... whats the fun in owning it if you can't use it?Why not just acquire a small short line and operate it. You can take courses in how to be an engineer and get certified and run it that way. Of course you may need a bunch of that cash to keep it going, but at least you'll earn cash too... LC