The ALCO RSD-15 is probaly the rareist diesel locomotive ever. How rare you ask? Ten are said to be static and will may never operate again, and three that are fully operational (One is undergoing restoration in Austin, Texas).
If you have read some of my fourms you may know how facinated I’ am with the ALCO RSD-15. The best part is that one of them operate near my home town
(two if you count the 443,undergoing restoration). [:D][:D][:D]
The 442 is a 6 axle, 2,400 h.p. monster. Formally owned by the ATSF, she was bought by the Austin Steam Train Association to pull trains for ASTA wile the
786, a 2-8-2 Mikido, is being repaired. Here sister engien the 443 is undergoing restoration. Did I tell you that? [:p][:p][:p] Check out this pic by Clyde King of this cool and uniqe locomotive. [:D][:p][:)] http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/rsd15_photos/5162_sp-rsd15-clyde_king.jpg
Not to try and bust your chops or anything man, but there rarer ALCo locomotives. the rarest is MLWs lone M-640; a 4000 hp beast powered by a 18-251, although it no longer has the original engine. The second is ALCos RS-27, at 2,400hp it is the 4-axle equivilant to the RSD-15, only 2 survive. Third is the ALCo C-636 onle one is operational in the US and 3 in Canada, the next is the C-430 only 5 remain, however an amazing 4 are still operable! Pretty good for a loco where only 16 were produced [:D] Then there is the C-630, several remain but only 2 or 3 are operable. If you would like some more statistics just Email me, I am a pretty good athority on ALCo, MLW and Bombardier locomotives, and will be happy to awnser any of your questions! Just go to http://stlouisrail.tk/ and click on ‘Contact Me’ for my emails! And I am not trying to be mean, just helpful[8D]
For more info click on eather Alco diesel 442[:)] or Southern Pacific 786[:)].
To see more pics click photo gallery.
Latter I’ll email you pics I took.
Born new years eve. Your born christmas.
Dont you just hate the “merry christmas, oh, and happy birthday” thing?
They allways try to get a twofor in there…
Stay Frosty,
Ed
Gentlemen,
I know very little about Alco engines. I know very little about railroads for that matter. I have a Question, (no offence intended) Why are these Engines rare? Is it because these engines were poor performers and none of the railroads wanted them?
Forgive me if I’m wrong,but wasn’t the lone M-640 Alcos single excursion into AC traction territory?If so then that would most likely make it the first AC traction road engine period.I hope this jewel is under wraps somewhere!!!
barbarosa: you are partially correct, MLWs M-640 was built as a standard AC-DC locomotive, however, in the mid-to late 80s (I can’t think of the exact year) CP Rail used the unit as a test bed for new AC technology. Unfortunately, by that time the unit no longer contained its original 18-251F rated at 4,000hp, I belive a 16-251E replaced it.[V]
TARGUBRIGHT: no offence taken. The main reason ALCos are so scarce is because ALCo went out of business in 1969, and its subsidary Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was bought by Bombardier in 1978. ALCos are by no means poor preformers, you could run them through hell, so to speak (and many RRs did), only have to change a cylinder head or two every 6months to a year, and put em back on the road. Most ALCos were sturdy locomotives and good pullers, like the S-2 or 4 not enough horsepower to spin its wheels, they would pull anything you put behind them. ALCo suffered from poor sales most of its life, after the problems with the 244 engine customers were some what weary to buy their 251 powered machines, which had almost no problems at all. Ok I’m gonna go take a nap now.[8D]
Hey Bryan, I’m also a big RSD-15 fan. I can’t wait for the Ca. State RR museum to get one of their 5 or 6 ex-Santa-Fe’s restored to running condition.[:D][:D] Also dream of the day someone will make a plastic HO model of one too.[:p][:p]
PS nice paint job on the 442. Love that Black Widow. [:)][:D][8D]
Never was around an Alco engined RSD-15 while it was running. Was around the three Santa Fe EMD engined mongrels at Barstow, Ca on the humps mated to slugs and those were impressive. Saw the RSD-15 now at Sacramento when John Reid had it mothballed at the Albuquerque roundhouse and saw the stored/ repainted IHRC pair from Squaw Creek at Connersville, IN…Santa Fe Mechanical people at La Junta and Raton liked the RSD-15 over the SD-24’s in coal service because they could outpull their 2-cycle cousins. When ATSF was ready to buy more 6-axle units, RSD-15’s were not in the catalog any more and the ALCO Century Series demonstrators on ATSF (C-628’s?) failed miserably. Enter GE and the rest was history. (The GE U23C and U33C’s were not exactly stellar either and the rebuilt SD-24s / SD-“26” units outshined everything else over Raton for years)… there’s a lesson in Quality and reliability in here somewhere…
You should see all the Baldwins they have in Sacramento too. They even have one of the Krauss-Maffei diesel hydralic hood units. It’s weired to look underneath and see driveshafts instead of traction motors
I know that they have one -615 (ex SP) that they rebuilt, and that there are 6 former TRONA Baldwins running loose somewhere, and a former ONW (ex SP) in storage non-operable in Oregon, so what Baldwins does Cal-State have?
Which model KM is at Cal-State? Should be the “Camera Unit”, I think. Nose was rebuilt to house cameras for the locomotive simulator programs. That would be a Model 2 (hood). The HO modles follow the DRGW Model 1 type. The SP bought them from the DRGW, and so had 6, one of which they promptly incinerated in a tunnel on Donner by getting the hydralic oil too hot.
The last three Hydralics were Alco made with Voith Transmissions with Carden Shafts (like all of the German made units, too). 4,000 HP, but I think they used two 2,000 HP 251 short blocks, but it was about the same time as the 18-251 came out. Anyway, they had two sets of cooling radiators (one behind the cab and one at the far end of the long hood) and all three were cut up after only about 5 or so years of service. They were real roundhouse queens, rode like they had no springs and could straighten out curves with no strain whatsoever. SP misused them like they did with the German made units. These were high-speed constant torque units like steam is, not like diesel-electrics which are variable-torque. They flat failed as pushers on drags over Donner.
The Baldwins are ex US Navy DRS 4-4-15 , DRS 6-6-15 & AS616. The KM unit is the old camera car you refer to but it has had it’s entire nose that housed the cameras cut off.
The guys i used to work with said that all the diesel hyd. units did nothing but leak an
The PA’s are probably one of the most well-kown Alco types and yet one of the rarest. What about Alco FA’s? There is CP FA-2 4090 (I have an HO model of this engine made by Model Power) and FB-2 4469 preserved at the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel in Cranbrook, B.C. How many other FA’s are still in existence?
Trust me gentlemen, there are plenty of FPA-4s to go around, and so far, to my knowledge, none have been re-engined. They are very reliable locomotives, the NV wine train has em, so does the Grand Canyon RR and many many more tourist RRs.
I had the terrible mis-fortune of seeing 6 RSD-15’s be scrapped in Green Bay, WI about 5 yrs ago. They had been owned by Wisc. Central; aquired in the Green Bay & Western / Fox River Valley RR (FRVR) merger. They were former Lake Superior and Ishpeming (anybody ever been to Ishpeming?) nee former Santa Fe (I think.) They were bought by the FRVR as extra power for the Green Bay to Milwaukee trains. They turned out to be fairly unreliable and were parked after no-too-many trips to Milwaukee. The WC had them scrapped at the North Green Bay roundhouse (former C&NW facility.) Later, they scrapped most of the facility itself. Gotta love those RR bean-counters.