I like very much the atlas ho loco switcher ALCO HH660 of the SP
This loco is in the tiger stripes paint scheme but WITHOUT the aluminium front and back ends in stead the tiger stripes are painted on the overall body
I know SP purchesed 3 of this locos in the early 1940s numbered 1001-1002-1003 but i am unable to find more informations on yhis ones
Can anybody please tell me in what time period this loco can be seen in this paint scheme and when was/were retired from service ?
Switchers were painted in the Tiger Stripe scheme from 1947 to 1956. The photograph at Atlas’s website looks correct to me (however, I am interested in a later period). The silver ends sounds like the Tiger Stripe scheme adapted for road switchers. I am not sure if any switchers had silver ends, and according to the SP locomotive website the HH660s were not painted in that scheme.
According to Southern Pacific Review 1952-82 by Joseph A. Strapac three of the Alcos were bought in 1939. A photo on page 65 shows the 1003 as depicted by the Atlas model in Oakland. the caption states that Oakland “has always been its home”
Southern Pacific Dieselization by James Bonds Germany shows on page 153, the ALCO demonstrator in black with no lettering at Tracy CA in August 1939 . The demonstrator became SP 1001 on Sept 1, 1939. On page 154 it is shown lettered SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES (white) with a white stripe on the frame in Oakland . A photo of the 1003 shows it in the same scheme at Oakland in February 1940. A photo of the 1002 shows it in February 1950 at Lodi CA. It is in the tiger stripe scheme.
A note in Appendix 6 of the Southern Pacific Dieselization book:
" For a more detailed roster, listing dispositions, refer to EXTRA 2000 South, issues No. 54-60, of October 1975 - June 1777."
thanks very much for your detailed informations on this ALCO H660
It seems possible that this tiger stripes livery could be its paint scheme from 1950 to 1958-60 when the SP started repainting they locomotives in the red/grey scheme
Anyone knows when where this Alco HH660s retired ?
I assume when you mention aluminum and orange you’re talking about the “Black Widow” scheme. I believe that was used on road engines and road switchers (F units, high nose SD and GP units, etc.) more than on switchers.
Those Alco units didn’t have silver ends. As mentioned above, the units originally came painted black wirh horizontal stripes, but their post-WWII scheme was black with orange diagonal stripes with “Southern Pacific Lines” shortened to “Southern Pacific”. Unit 1001 was retired in 1962 (and sold for scrap in 1963) and the other two were sold for scrap in 1962. The locomotives received train-number boards sometime during their lifetime. Adding the number boards to a model (positioned diagonally just behind the stack) would help make it more “SP-like.”
I doubt these locomotives ever lost their tiger-stripes. Frugal SP wouldn’t waste the paint on locomotives so close to retirement.
These 660-horsepower Alcos worked passenger depot jobs and peddler assignments on light rail(thus the number boards) all over central California. (The SP preferred higher-horsepowered switchers in the freight yards.)
thanks for your clarification I have seen the picture in one of the previous links So if i am correct all 3 locos had at some stage the 3 different paint schemes
The one made by Atlas is the tiger stripes 1003 as it was in the period between 1950-1958
Possibly 4 schemes. Eric’s link shows 1002 and 1003 in the Halloween scheme. A short lived predecessor of the grey and red . Note they are black (instead of grey) and orange (instead of red.)
SP’s earliest diesel switchers followed the color scheme of the EMD SW1 demonstrator: black body with parallel horizontal aluminum stripes. In 1944 it was decided to paint the black switching locomotives with seveno-inch-wide stripes at a 45-degree angle along the frame edge and on the front of the hood with Daylight orange paint. New units delivered in late 1944 displayed this color scheme with the Southern Pacific Lines lettering in orange. Fifteen-inch tall lettering without the Lines was adopted for switchers in 1946. In 1958 a temporary paint scheme in solid black with solid orange trim was in place for a few late months, but no new locomotives were delivered inthese colors. In late 1959 the gray and scarlet colors was instituted…
However, to believe that all locomotives were nearly-simultaneously painted to the newest paint scheme is in error. Extremely few locomotives received the “Haloween” scheme. And many switchers never received a gray/scarlet scheme. For instance, Alco S-6 switcher no. 1036 was wearing its tiger-striped scheme in a September 1964 photograph.
Thus, I’m surprised the Alco HH-660 locomotives received the newer paint schemes so rapidly. Perhaps because they worked in the passenger yards and the SP wanted to “show off” the new colors to train passengers. If the SP was consistent over the years, then the locomotives also received the tiger-striped scheme early too, maybe as early as 1946.
You’re probably safe until 1958. A November 1956 photo (page 23 of Joseph Strapac’s Southern Pacific Diesel Locomotive Compendium, Volume 1) of #1001 (at the Oakland Mole) shows it still wearing tiger stripes. It is hard to know for sure unless one sees a dated photograph.
