and the Berlinerwerke Saga (HO-Scale, included with Horseshoe Curve
information)
and continuation pages with prototype and HO/N/S scale dimensions,
satellite photo, pictures, description of the Horseshoe Curve,
Long Island Rail Road,
MODEL RAILROADING,
and Z-Scale (1:220) Model Railroading;
visit my RR page for a master RR index.
BIG BOY 4-8+8-4
Rummaging around for other old photos ca. 27 Aug 03, I ran across this series
taken of #4012 (not in the order shown) at the old Steamtown at Bellows Falls,
Vermont, in the Fall of 1964 (all are thumbnailed - click on the picture for a
larger image):
(don't even ask who the people are)
The left side was not very accessible (left) but this was the trip when Nelson Blount
made me watch his silly evangelical film and, in return, allowed me to climb up on
4012's tender for some very unique shots - the middle one shows the pistons and
rods in the floor of the tender and the right shot is the famous "miles and miles and
miles" or "on a clear day, you can see forever" or "from here to eternity" photo:
Next, two views of the collection from up topside, over the cab roof and tender:
(Fall 1964 photos by and © 1964/2003 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
[thumbnail images - click on the pictures for larger images]
Thanks, Nelson, wherever you are!
ALCo FA Love Song
FA-1, FA-2, and FPA-4 Cowl A-Units
(and FB-series B-units)
The Canadian Locomotive Works FPA-2/4 is by far and away the handsomest of the
PA's four-axle baby sisters, with the ALCo-built FA-2 running a fair second and the
FA-1 last, but by no means least; it's just an esthetic matter of length.
As noted elsewhere, I have lived for many years now within a few blocks of the Sea
Cliff Avenue Station on the LIRR's Oyster Bay line, one of the last stomping grounds
for the 19 Power Cars the LIRR made from FA-2 and FA-1 units and it was always a
joy to see them and to hear their Nathan chime whistles daily. They ran from
1971-1974 until the LIRR DM/DE-30AC loco fleet was acquired.
One might reasonably argue that I, as a dedicated LIRR
fan and Long Island resident, should have coverage of the FA-1/2 Power Cars on my
LIRR pages. However, since the LIRR reworked them so heavily for Push-Pull
service as Head-End Power and then got rid of them, my loyalty to ALCo outweighs
that to the LIRR and here we go.
Of the 19 units, road nos. 600-618, only 7 kept their 244 prime movers;
some were rebuilt with Detroit Diesel HEP sleds (see below).
They have been dispersed all over the map but the good news is that 4
(601, 602, 611, 614) are still in the general area (southern New
Jersey) in private ownership and are being rebuilt back to working
locomotives (!), some with their 244s and some with 251s from old
RS-3s. Tim Darnell (TAD) sent me these photos of #602 being
lovingly restored:
(Nov 2002 and Apr 2004 photos by and courtesy of TAD (T. Darmell) - all rights reserved)
Tim advises that the 602 basically only requires a truck swap and that
the owner plans to restore the FA-FB-FA-1s to L&NE and the FA-FPB-FA-2s
to PRR livery! There was an article on this by the owner in a recent
issue (#127) of Extra 2200 South.
Wonder how they're coming along?
- - - * - - -
LIRR ALCo FA Roster
(20 Sep 05) and heavily
(21/22/23 Sep 05)
[The following information is taken largely from John Scala's book, "Diesels of the
Sunrise Trail", as well as from my LIRR Continuation Page 2, Converted LIRR HEP/Cab Control Units, supplemented by Bob Losse, Jr.'s article on pp.
29-31 of Issue 127 of "Extra 2200 South".]
LIRR ALCo-GE FA Cowl Units
Converted to HEP/Control Cabs
:
Road # Class Builder Model Serial Built
Acquired Reblt.* Previous Road & #
600 PC-6 ALCo-GE FA-2m 79301 Oct 51 03/06/74 - NYC 1102 -> PC 1302
601 PC-6 ALCo FA-2m 81964 Jun 56 05/06/71 - L&N 317
602 PC-6 ALCo FA-2m 80903 Jun56 06/30/71 - L&N 309
603 PC-6 ALCo FA-2m 81087 Jun 56 08/04/71 - L&N 315
604 PC-6 ALCo FA-2m 81086 Jun 56 09/07/71 - L&N 314
605 PC-7 ALCo FA-2m 80904 Jun 56 11/01/71 Nov 81 L&N 310
606 PC-7 ALCo FA-2m 81968 Jun 56 01/03/72 May 81 L&N 321
607 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-2m 78606 Jan 51 05/02/72 Dec 83 WM 303
608 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-2m 78607 Jan 51 06/19/72 Aug 82 WM 304 (now LIRR #3100)
609 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-2m 78494 Jan 51 09/23/72 Sep 83 WM 301
610 PC-6 ALCo-GE FA-2m 78495 Jan 51 10/20/72 Sep 83 WM 302
611 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-1m 76672 Feb 49 08/07/72 May 83 SP&S 857 -> BN 4102
612 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-1m 76671 Feb 49 11/27/72 Aug 82 SP&S 856 -> BN 4100
613 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-1m 78286 Jun 50 02/14/73 Sep 83 SP&S 866 -> BN 4126
614 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-1m 76673 Feb 49 03/07/73 Feb 83 SP&S 858 -> BN 4104
615 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-1m 76838 Feb 49 04/18/73 Mar 83 SP&S 864 -> BN 4116
616 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-1m 76675 Feb 49 07/29/73 Jul 83 SP&S 860 -> BN 4108
617 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-1m 75425 Oct 47 04/29/74 Feb 84 NH 0428 -> PC 1333
618 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-1m 75276 May 47 06/17/74 ??? ?? NH 0428 -> PC 1333
3100 PC-7 ALCo-GE FA-2m 78607 Jan 51 06/19/72 Aug 82 (this was 608, q.v.)
Road # Class Builder Model Serial Built Acquired Reblt.* Previous Road & #
* - The PC-6 classification applies to units retaining their old 244
engines. Class PC-7 applies to units rebuilt with Detroit Diesel
sleds.
All units were rebuilt at the GE Apparatus Shop in North Bergen, New
Jersey, with the traction motors removed and generators wired directly
to jumper receptacles. All were powered by ALCo 244 engines
derated to 600HP and governed to a constant speed. Control
stands were wired directly to 27 point jumpers for "Push-Pull"
service.
606 and 605 were heavily upgraded by the LIRR with "sled"
configurations and WABCO 2161 brake systems and the midships door was
moved to the rear of the carbody. The air compressor in 617 was
salvaged from an M-1 M-U car.
[I had forgotten from whence I got the #3100; it was the #608,
rebuilt by, and still running on, the LIRR.]
Bob Losse's article in "Extra 2200 South" gives the full story on what has happened to
these FA units; rather than plagiarize, I'll simply summarize it:
- - - * - - -
Disposition of ex-LIRR ALCo-GE FA Cowl Units
Previously Converted to HEP/Control Cabs
:
Road # Class Model Power Date Disposition
600 PC-6 FA-2m 244 Western New York Railway Historical Society (Lackawanna, NY)
601 PC-6 FA-2m 244 Engines Preservation, Inc. (Delaware Valley)
602 PC-6 FA-2m 244 Engines Preservation, Inc. (Delaware Valley)
603 PC-6 FA-2m 244 Anthracite Railroads Historical Association (Winslow., NJ; to be NYC 1111)
604 PC-6 FA-2m 244 Illinois Railway Mueum
605 PC-7 FA-2m sled private owner (stored in Nashville)
606 PC-7 FA-2m sled 25 Aug 88 last FA-2 built; wrecked at grade crossing
in Huntington, LI; scrapped
607 PC-7 FA-2m sled West Virginia Central
608 PC-7 FA-2m sled ?? ??? 91 still on LIRR property as Power Car #3100
609 PC-7 FA-2m sled ?? Oct 98 scrapped
610 PC-6 FA-2m 244 Mohawk Hudson Chapter, NRHS, then
Western Maryland Railway Historical Society
611 PC-7 FA-1m sled private owner {---}
612 PC-7 FA-1m sled ?? ?? 93 scrapped
613 PC-7 FA-1m sled last FA-1 built; Northwest Rail Museum (under restoration)
614 PC-7 FA-1m sled private owner {---}
615 PC-7 FA-1m sled ?? ??? 01 SEPTA (same road no.)
616 PC-7 FA-1m sled ?? ??? 01 Touristiques des Chaudieres Appalaches (same road no.)
617 PC-7 FA-1m sled Danbury Railway Museum
618 PC-7 FA-1m 244 Railroad Museum of New England (as NH 0401)
Road # Class Model Power Date Disposition
(to be expanded)
[Bob Losse is one of the owners affiliated with Engines Preservation, Inc.]
The Western New York Railroad
Historical Society in Hamburg, New York, which is restoring 1923 Baldwin
PRR Class I1sa 2-10-0 #4483, was asked what kind of "tracktion" motors
they were going to put back into their HH660; how stupid can anyone get?
EVERYONE KNOWS that ALCo HH660s used General
Elecktric tracktion motors! :·)
Inkadinkly, the UP moved their sole remaining ALCo Big Boy #4023 by road in
Omaha on 12-13 Mar 2005; you can see this on my
Road Loads page 4. Further up on that same page is the earlier
(21 Feb 1999) move of Northern #833 in Ogden.
RS-1/RSC/RSD Love Song
Heck; if I can write a "Love Song" for the PAs and the FAs, I certainly can do
the same for the RS-1 and the RSC-x and RSD-x which share the S-series
yard switcher overhanging roof and sharper hood contours.
The same Harvey Henkelman who is credited all over my RR and ALCo pages
is also noted as a LEGO® block freak par excellance; he
made up a rather-strange-looking RSC-3 ALCo Roadswitcher (a
LEGO®creation); since the model{?} has sharp edges on the
ends and roof (even though there's no overhang), I'll enshrine it here, with the
original first:
(photos H. Henkelman - all rights reserved)
This rugged locomotive, recalling legendary ALCo diesels, is loosely based
upon ALCo/MLW RSC-3 locomotives exported to
New South Wales, Australia. Combining their best attributes to create
the locomotive shown here, Harvey incorporated new rounded bricks into the
cab roof, updating the design by eliminating the blocky roof of the original
incarnation, as well as replacing the old gray elements with bluish-gray
(known derisively by some LEGO® fans as "bley").
Since the prototype
NSW 40 class lacked handrails for much of their service lives, Harvey
had a perfect excuse to omit them from his model as well.
The resulting
low-profile carbody (the model's cab is just high enough for a mini-figure
in the sitting position) implies brute strength, combined with the "dashing good
looks that only an ALCo product could embody" (tell it like it is, Harv!).
Here it is with the revised cab roof:
(photos H. Henkelman - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
Not bad; not bad at all!
Now, if only LEGO® would come out with a red brake wheel; heaven
forfend that a brickie would ever paint a brick!
Here's an airborne ALCo S1 (or 2 or 4 - ?) , at around 115-tons, being
slung in or out of a ship like a small toy by
Weeks Marine's big 750-ton #533 floating crane:
[Photo courtesy of Weeks Marine, Inc., by permission - all rights reserved]
(Click on thumbnailed image for larger picture]
Now here, courtesy of Wayne Koch, is the ALCo Builder's Card,
front and rear, for the Birmingham & Southern's HH900 (DL-460) pair
#81 and #83:
(21 Feb 08)
[Photos courtesy of W. Koch - all rights reserved]
(Click on thumbnailed image for larger picture]
Oddly, Marre (in Diesel Locomotives - The First 50 Years),
notes these units (pp. 215-218) but only as HH900s, not as DL-460s.
Obviously, the back was pasted to something and did not come free very
well, but it's sure better than nothing! Thanks, Wayne!
See also the Main ALCo Page and ALCo Continuation Page
1.
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and
emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
of this series of ALCo pages.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III -
1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007,
2008
- All rights reserved.
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