I have a question about the American Locomotive Company. Would name be spelled ALCO? Or would it be ALCo, with the O small because it is not a major letter? Or technically couldnt it be ALC???
it would be ALCo, because o is not an important letter in the acronym for the American Locomotive Company
I have always used ALCo. Since Co is the abbriviation for “Company,” it should be used as such.
From time immemorial, it’s been either ALCO or Alco.
If you want to be a purist, be my guest and make it ALCo.
Old Timer
Just for the sake of correctness, wouldnt it be ALC? American Locomotive Company? I mena, where did the o come from? Why was it added?
Who knows, coborn35? Check back in the literature as far as you want to go, and you’ll see that nobody wrote it as “ALC”.
Old Timer
Considering that the demo loco paint jobs I’ve seen simply say “ALCO”, I’d go for that. Hey, if it’s good enough for them…
I suppose if one wanted to be 100% correct in one’s English, one should type “A.L.Co.” (since it’s all an abbreviation), but that’s not as easy to type.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
coborn35
The real answer is what the company itself used in letterheads and advertising. Richard Steinbrenner’s book on ALCO (or ALCo) is worth checking.
When the company was “The American Locomotive Company” ALCo was appropriate, but in the diesel era, the company formally became “Alco Products”, although the builder’s plates from the 1960s at least read “ALCO”, so you can take your choice.
“Alco” is the simplest!
Peter
Actually it is spelled GE[}:)]. Just kiddin’. I would have to agree with M636C. Check out the builder’s plate in the below link. They showed it as “Alco” in their fancy script.[:o)][:)]
http://www.jefflubchanskycpa.com/GCRM106PLTE-MIAMI-JA19-4DG7.jpg
Smitty
Mark! whats up?
Well I think it should deserve as much respect as possible so lets shout out ALCO.
Adrianspeeder
I tried saying ALCO, ALCo, and Alco out loud - they all sounded the same.
The fresh paint at Mt. Vernon, Il on the old C&EI/PNC shops says “ALCO”…
Good enough for me.
My wife worked for Westinghouse Air Brake Company and they always went by WABCO. Of course now they’re Wabtec so I suppose it’s kind of a moot point.
Brian
Let’s see now, in Canada it’s MLW, in Australia it’s Comeng and in India it’s DLW (still in production!). A rose by any name would smell as sweet.
ALCO sounds good for me!
I’ve always spelled it ALCo.
Of course today it’s spelled Fairbanks Morse.[}:)]
No, today is spelled “rusting pile of junk scrap that noone (except us) cares about”.