For countless historic locomotives, the scrapper’s torch, the parts dealer, the sudden bankruptcy and line abandonment have all had their say on the matter.

But luckily, nobody said former Durango & Rio Grande Western Railroad No. 133 couldn’t go home.

On Nov. 16, the Museums at Union Station announced on their Facebook page that D&RGW No. 133 — a 1965-built EMD SW1200 — had just arrived and been placed in the Utah State Railroad Museum’s collection on a two-year loan from its current owner, the Promontory Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

Promontory Chapter Preservation Officer Derrick Klarr told the Standard-Examiner that the locomotive primarily spent the first 30 years of its career plying rail yards along the Wasatch Front.

Photo supplied, James Belmont

“It was built four the Denver and Rio Grande Western in Jan. 1965 and still wears its original paint,” he said. “It was based on local trains out of Rio Grande’s Roper Yard in SLC for most of its career.”

Hope Eggett, museum administrator for the Museums at Union Station, told the Standard-Examiner that the No. 133 holds a distinction that many other pieces in the collection might not be able to say.

“This locomotive, No. 133, actually saw service in Ogden’s rail yards during its useful life,” she said. “This is a really great piece of history. This one is a switch engine so it was working in freight rail yards, transferred railroad cars and helped build trains. It’s one of the few pieces in our collection that actually saw service in Ogden quite frequently, so this piece would be something you could see frequenting Union Station’s backyard for many, many decades — and others like it as well.”

She said many of the other locomotives in the collection likely did pass through Ogden on occasion, but No. 133 was likely the most frequent visitor to the city.

Eggett added the locomotive also helps embody the stories of many of Ogden’s residents.

Photo supplied, Samuel Brodersen

“It’s a really unique piece of history,” she said. “This is one of 10 SW1200s that were made for Denver & Rio Grande Western. I really think this adds to our collection in that it can tell the story of what it was like to work in a rail yard. Many of Ogden’s citizens were working in the rail yards here with equipment just like this one.”

After more than three decades of sorting freight cars shuttling local trains between Salt Lake City and points close-by, No. 133’s career would take a major turn.

According to Klarr, not long after the Union Pacific’s acquisition of the Denver & Rio Grande Western, the locomotive was retired and would soon trade in the mountains for the quiet fields of southeast South Dakota.

“Once the Rio Grande was merged into the Union Pacific, the 133 found its way to South Dakota, where it worked for several years at a grain elevator,” he said.

He said, for the better part of two decades, the locomotive would shuttle grain cars around a grain elevator in Beresford, South Dakota, about 35 miles south of Sioux Falls.

Photo supplied, Museums at Union Station

However, this job wouldn’t last forever — and that’s when the Promontory Chapter saw a chance to preserve a piece of local history.

“When that company moved their operation, the 133 was left behind, where it sat unused and mostly forgotten,” Klarr said. “In 2023, the Promontory Chapter approached Southeast Farmers Coop — the current owners at the time — about possibly donating it for preservation. They generously donated it in late 2023.”

And according to Klarr, there are some plans for No. 133 under the group’s ownership.

“We’ve got an agreement with the Utah State Railroad Museum to store and display it there, initially for 2 years, but with an option to extend,” he said. “Part of the agreement allows members of the Promontory Chapter to perform maintenance and restoration work on it at the museum.”

He said restoration could begin very soon, and there’s a major goal in mind.

“We are planning to get started on it this spring,” he said. “Our first task will be working to re-expose the original Rio Grande lettering from 1965. We will also do a mechanical evaluation/inspection to determine its mechanical condition, with hopes of returning it to operation. The one thing we’ll need that’s a given, is a new set of batteries. We are a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, and will accept support for this project through donations and volunteers, if anyone is willing to help.”

Klarr said No. 133 is the only one of the 10 Rio Grande SW12000s in preservation, but isn’t the last one in existence. He said that D&RGW No. 134 works at a grain facility in Texas — still wearing its Rio Grande colors — and that there may be others operating in newer paint schemes far away from the mountains they once rolled past.