Plug pulled on Tukwila motor-repair shop after 80-year run

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It kept state ferry engines humming and giant power turbines spinning for 80 years.

Yesterday, it shut down, pitching 24 seasoned engineers and other staff out of work without severance or insurance, and with a cloud over their pensions.

Grand Eagle Motor Service, at 10831 E. Marginal Way S. in Tukwila, was one of dozens of plants set up by Westinghouse Electric in the 1920s to service and repair the huge, mostly hidden machines that underpin modern life.

Employees came and stayed. Plant manager Jim Pepper joined after high school in 1959 and was there yesterday, at age 61. His father retired there in 1969 after 46 years.

Engineers gained rare skills fixing incredible equipment. They rebuilt 10-foot electric motors that power state ferries, from the Cathlamet to the Yakima. They worked on aircraft carriers docked in the harbor, at the Trident submarine base in Bangor. Recently, they rebuilt hydro generators beneath Snoqualmie Falls, the first repair of that type since the 1890s, Pepper said.

But the business had been changing hands. Westinghouse sold to Eastern Electric Apparatus in 1986. Richfield, Ohio-based Grand Eagle bought it a decade later, then was bought by Desai Capital Management investment group in 2000.

Pepper says his plant was profitable, despite a tough couple of years. But the owners ran out of cash, he said. In December, the Desai unit Grand Eagle filed for bankruptcy protection, citing the Sept. 11 attacks, which cut business. It said it hoped to find buyers for 22 plants and 1,100 employees.

But yesterday, the 24 Seattle employees were let go without severance or medical coverage. "They have to go out and find it," said Pepper. "It's a slap in the face, totally." For pensions, they've been referred to a government program, he said.

Pepper said the owners are in talks with a potential suitor. But without a buyer, the business will stay shut and the ferry service and others will need to go out of state for repairs.

"It's a bad day for the ferry system," said Mark Nitchman, maintenance director for Washington State Ferries. "They're very skilled technicians, the work they do has always been very high quality, and they're convenient — they're local."

Alwyn Scott can be reached at 206-464-3329 or ascott@seattletimes.com.