When it was M-K, they had a pretty talented engineering staff and did some amazing work. Then Agee ran all of M-K into the ground.

Under Wabtec, MPI seems to have been struggling recently to get their engineering and sales act together and meet the financial contribution expectations (as in make a real profit) of their parent.

MPI became the read-headed bastard step-child after the merger. It would have made sense for MPI to have continued to have been allowed to finish out the existing contracts, which being mostly EMD powered rebuilds was something Erie or GE did not have experience in. MPI also had the same potential value as anything RELCO would offer, except RELCO does have a lease fleet of older stuff. GE was in such a hurry to shut down Boise they had to load stripped locomotives in the middle of rebuilding on flat cars for shipment to Erie. MPI still had value as a fairly modern complete shop to do custom, wreck repairs, anything EMD or Cummins powered, prototypes and UP warranty work under GE. I heard the thought was that RELCO could offer GE the same benefit and had a location closer to the expected potential work, as Boise has proven to be somewhat of a drawback due to its location and UP only rail connection.

BTW - the group with M-K that first proposed them getting into the contract locomotive business proposed the Chicago area, but M-K insisted on Boise so they could keep an eye on it. I believe the shop was originally used by M-K as a heavy construction machinery rebuild/repair facility, which included their own locomotives. They ended up with substantial transit work, and moved that to the former Erie shop they bought in Hornell, NY - which helped kill M-K with the California Car contract. There was also a locomotive shop in Mountain Top, PA for a while - I know they did some of the SP GP40M-2 order circa 1990-1991.