ALCO PA
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ALCO PA1/PB1 PA2/PB2 | |
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Dynamic | |
Train brakes | Air |
Performance figures | |
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Maximum speed | 117 mph (188 km/h) |
Power output | 2,000 hp (1,490 kW) — PA-1/PB-1 2,250 hp (1,680 kW) — PA-2/PB-2 |
Tractive effort | 51,000 lbf (226.86 kN) |
Career | |
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Class | Erie- PA1- PA-20 PA2- PA-22 NH- PA1- DER-3a NYC- PA1- various PB1- various PA2- DPA-4a PRR- PA1- AP20 P&LE- PA1- DPA-2c PA2- DPA-14b WAB- PA1- D20 |
Locale | North America, Brazil |
Disposition | Three preserved, two under restoration, one converted to steam generator car, remainder scrapped. |
The ALCO PA was a family of
ALCO's designation of P indicates that they were geared for higher speeds and passenger use, whereas the F designation marks these locomotives as being geared primarily for freight use. However, beyond this, their design was largely similar - aside from the PA/PB's both being larger A1A-A1A types with an even more striking nose - and many railroads used PA and FA locomotives for both freight and passenger service.
Although the majority of the PAs and PBs have been scrapped, six examples have survived. Five PAs are now preserved in railroad museums, while a converted PB still remains in service as a power car.
Service history
There were two models of PAs: the 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW) PA-1/PB-1, which was built between September 1946 and June 1950, and the 2,250 horsepower (1,680 kW) PA-2/PB-2, which was built between April, 1950 and December, 1953.[citation needed]
The PAs, as well as their cousins, the ALCO FAs, were born as a result of ALCO's development of a new diesel engine design, the Model 244. In early 1944, development started on the new design, and by November 1945 the first engines were beginning to undergo tests. This unusually-short testing sequence was brought about by the decision of ALCO's senior management that the engine and an associated line of road locomotives had to be introduced no later than the end of 1946.
In preparation for this deadline, by January, 1946, the first 16-cylinder 244 engines were being tested, and, while a strike delayed work on the locomotives, the first two PA units were released for road tests in June, 1946 for testing for one month on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. After these first tests were completed, the locomotives returned to the factory for refurbishment and engine replacement.
In September, 1946, the first production units, an A-B-A set of PA1s in
Four PA-1s previously operated by the Santa Fe were sold to
Fans deemed the PA one of the most beautiful diesels and an "Honorary Steam Locomotive", as noted by Professor
Original owners
Railroad | PA1 | PB1 | PA2 | PB2 | PA1 road numbers | PB1 road numbers | PA2 road numbers | PB2 road numbers | Notes |
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ALCO-GE Demonstrators | 1 | 1 | 8375 | 8375B | to New York Central Railroad 4212 and 4304 | ||||
ALCO-GE Demonstrators | 2 | 9077-9078 | Demonstrated on Canadian National, painted in CN green and gold, later to Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad as PA-2s 59A,C. Last PA-1s built. | ||||||
American Freedom Train (original) |
1 | 1776 | First production PA1. To Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad 292 | ||||||
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad |
28 | 16 | 51-62L,B, 70-73L | 51-62A, 70-73A | Four PA1s sold to Delaware & Hudson in 1967; became last to operate in U.S.
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Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad |
4 | 2 | 6001, 6003, 6011, 6013 | 6002, 6012 | |||||
Erie Railroad | 12 | 2 | 850-861 | 862-863 | |||||
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad |
2 | 290-291 | |||||||
Lehigh Valley Railroad | 14 | 601-614 | |||||||
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad |
4 | 8 | 57-58A,C | 60-63A,C | 59A,C were Alco PA-1 demonstrators rebuilt as PA-2s | ||||
Missouri Pacific Railroad | 8 | 28 | 8001-8008 | 8009-8036 | 8011-8012 were originally owned by International & Great Northern
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New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad | 27 | 0760-0786 | Unit 0783 to D&H in 1967 for parts. | ||||||
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) |
11 | 180-190 | |||||||
New York Central Railroad | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4200-4203 | 4300-4303 | 4208-4211 | |||
Pennsylvania Railroad | 10 | 5 | 5750-5759 | 5750B/5758B even #s | |||||
Pittsburgh and Lake Erie |
4 | 2 | 4204-4207 | 4213-4214 | |||||
St. Louis Southwestern Railway | 2 | 300-301 | To Southern Pacific Railroad 6067-6068 | ||||||
Southern Pacific Railroad (T&NO ) |
12 | 200-205A,B | Renumbered to 200-211, then to Southern Pacific 6055-6066 | ||||||
Southern Pacific Railroad |
12 | 6 | 27 | 7 | 6005-6010A,C | 6005-6010B | 6019-6045 | 5918-5924 | 6005-6010A,C renumbered to 6005-6016, 6005-6010B renumbered to 5910-5915 |
Southern Railway (CNO&TP ) |
6 | 6900-6905 | Last PA's built by ALCO | ||||||
Union Pacific Railroad | 8 | 6 | 600-607 | 600B, 602B, 604B-607B | 607 converted for experimental coal-burning turbine in 1962 | ||||
Wabash Railroad | 4 | 1050-1053 | |||||||
Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro | 3 | 600-602 | 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge | ||||||
Totals | 169 | 39 | 81 | 8 |
Foreign sales
The PA-2 units sold to the
Surviving examples
Five PA units and one converted PB unit survive.
- One surviving unit, #600, is from the order of three broad gauge units sold to São Paulo as a shell with no prime mover and no side panels. A restoration began in 2001 but has not been completed.[citation needed]
- All four Delaware & Hudson-operated PA-4s have survived, with two being in the United States, and the other two in Mexico.
- From 1981 to 2000, No.16 and No.18 remained stored in Empalme, Sonora, Mexico. In 2000, the Smithsonian Institution and rail preservationist Doyle McCormack obtained the units and brought them back to the United States.
- No.16, which was heavily damaged in a derailment while in Mexico, was planned to be cosmetically restored into its original "Warbonnet" colors for the Smithsonian Institution. The unit was acquired by the Museum of the American Railroad in 2011 and transported to the museum's new site in Frisco, Texas. Since then, it has been under restoration, with plans to return it to its original Warbonnet appearance and original number of ATSF 59L.[9]
- No.18 was owned by Doyle McCormack and has been undergoing restoration since 2002. It has been restored as Nickel Plate Road 190, a recreation of the first locomotive McCormack got to ride.[10] The locomotive was moved to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center, in Portland, Oregon in 2012, where restoration work continued to take place. In March 2023, it was announced that the Genesee Valley Transportation Company would purchase the locomotive, with plans to restore it to operation for excursion use.[11] It arrived in Scranton, Pennsylvania in May 2023.[12][13]
- No.16, which was heavily damaged in a derailment while in Mexico, was planned to be cosmetically restored into its original "
- No.17 and No.19 are preserved at the National Museum of Mexican Railways in Daylight colors, but as of February 2010 had been painted over in primer.[citation needed]
- From 1981 to 2000, No.16 and No.18 remained stored in Empalme, Sonora, Mexico. In 2000, the Smithsonian Institution and rail preservationist Doyle McCormack obtained the units and brought them back to the United States.
- Ex-Denver and Rio Grande PB-1 6002 was converted to a steam generator car in October 1965; it gained Blomberg B trucks in 1980. It was sold to Ski Train, and later sold again in 2007 to the Algoma Central Railway.
References
- OCLC 1024276965.
- ISBN 978-1-61060-672-1.
- ISBN 0-911122-07-9.
- ISBN 0896850358.
- ^ a b Ingles, J. David (December 1975). "The power behind the pointless arrow". Trains. Vol. 36, no. 2. pp. 22–29.
- ^ D.P.M. (July 1974). "What we lost with the PA's". Trains. Vol. 34, no. 9. p. 18.
- Trains MagazineJanuary, 1997, p.54.
- ^ “Honorary steam locomotive” at Trains Magazine
- ^ "ATSF 59 - Americas PA". Archived from the original on 2021-05-03. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
- Trains Magazine.
- ^ "Genesee Valley Transportation Acquires Historic Alco PA". 2 March 2023.
- ^ "Famed Alco PA will move to Genesse Valley Transportation". Trains. Kalmbach Media. June 2023. p. 44.
- ^ "News photo: A PA arrives in Pa". Trains. May 19, 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
Additional Reading
- Aslaksen, James and McCormack, Doyle. NKP190.com. Retrieved on March 26, 2005.
- Hayden, Bob, ed. (1980). Model Railroader Cyclopedia-Volume 2: Diesel Locomotives. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 0-89024-547-9.
- Hollingsworth, Brian and Arthur F. Cook (1987). The Great Book of Trains. Portland House, New York, NY. ISBN 0-517-64515-7.
- Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, WI. ISBN 0-89024-026-4.
- Romano, Andy (1997). PA: Alco's Glamour Girl. Four Ways West Publications. ISBN 1-885614-16-0.
- Stumpf, Rolf. ALCO World: Paulista RR. Retrieved on March 26, 2005.
- The Santa Fe Diesel Volume One: Dieselization - 1960 by Dr. Cinthia Priest pages 52–56.
- http://utahrails.net/ajkristopans/REPOWEREDLOCOMOTIVES.php see EMD order #8506 dated August 1954 for repowering data on the AT&SF 51 set of PAs.[better source needed]
External links
- America's PA project Archived 2021-05-03 at the Wayback Machine
- DH-17 and DH-19 at the National Museum of Mexican Railroads website.