United States Army No. 4039

United States Army 4039 is an 060-155 built by ALCO in November 1942 where it saw service at Fort Eustis, VA during WWII. On February 17, 1947, she was sold the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway in Piney Woods, VA where she was renumbered to 5.
She remained in service until 1963 when the VBR made the change to diesel. In 1965, Earle Gil bought her and ran her on the Morris County Central until December 14, 1980, when she ran her last trip. Before this, in 1973, the 4039 along with 385 and the entire MCC collection of cars and equipment moved to a new location at the 10-mile New York Susquehanna and Western branch for a new home and base of operations.
She and her stablemate had the liberty to haul the entire long train out of Whippany on December 16, 1973. After going through some troubling issues about the tonnage of the train under the challenging hazards of winter, 4039 struggled to drag the whole train alone after 385 suffered a leak from her throttle pipe at Greycourt, New York.
It was a tough going for the former Army Switcher locomotive until finally by April 16, 1974, after a well-deserved hibernation in the winter, 4039 and 385 began their first revenue run on the MCC's new line on the 4th of July. As the seventies passed, things looked grim for the Morris County County to continue operations when Earle Gil left for Florida.
But 4039 continued the work after 385 was sidelined for heavy repairs in 1978. On May 7, 1994, the Whippany Railway Museum acquired her and restored her cosmetically. on December 20 she was added to the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and on March 4, 2002, she was added to the National Register of Historic Places. She is currently under restoration at Whippany.
==See also==
*Gallery
Category:0-6-0 locomotives
Category:0-6-0 steam locomotives
Category:ALCO locomotives
Category:Six-coupled locomotives
Category:Preserved steam locomotives
Category:Built in 1942
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:American steam locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:United States
Category:Locomotives
Category:Whippany Railroad Museum
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Category:4 foot 8 1⁄2 inch gauge
English:Morris County Central/United States Army #4039