According to a roster originally published in Railroad Magazine, and published in Wayner’s book compiling these rosters, the GM&O owned no RS-3s.
According to this roster, GM&O also owned some PA-1s and PA-2s. I stand corrected.
The roster made no mention of the DL-109, but other sources indicate that GM&O did once have one.
To Railpac
Sorry for doubting you; you were correct!
After looking the rochester NY railfan page I saw that LA&L had two 430’s from M&E already on the roster. I must have seen one on the way through to Lakeville to go for some maintenance.
According to that page one of the two is now working on the WNYP, a LA&L offshoot.
Well folks, I’m back, so let the questions fly!! [;)]
Common, I know somebody’s got some questions!
Why do Alcos leak more fluids than EMDs?
LC
Because.
I guess that’s the rivet counter response…lol…
LC
LC I must confess–I put him up to that response. [}:)] [:p] He can answer a question that has a black and white answer–and do a fine job of it. However, your answer cannot be found in any book. This is something that is learned on the job as you well know. Now you have asked the question–so share with us your answer. [:)]
Actually, I don’t have an easy answer to the question, that was one of the reasons for asking in the first place. I was thinking it could be the engineering choices that were made or the materials choices (such as type of gaskets etc) but I really don’t have “the answer” (although I could give you the standard mechanical department refrain “J-U-N-K”). I figured RailPac with all that advertised Alco expertise would jump right to it. Guess not…
LC[B)]
LC, Hello, I think he does pretty good for a 15 year old who is interested in trains. However, he does lack the experience that comes with years of practice (railroading). What he lacks in experience, you must admit, he makes up for in zeal and enthusiasm. As Ed has told Sask_Tinplater in another thread you should do your best because you want to, not because your employeer demands it. Therefore, I believe, Railpac (John) will make a fine railroad employee one of these days.
My guess, working in a related transporation field, would be poor or improper maintenance ie nuts/bolts not tightened, hoses not replace as suggested in the maintenance manuals, mechs in a hurry and not checking their work, etc, etc, etc,. This in a loco not much worry, but in an aircraft at 30 or 40,000 feet could be fatal.
LC
Two reasons.
One)) A mechanic friend who used to work on those beasts said he tried to figure it out one, and decided that the root cause had to be unequal expansion of the engine block components. They would rebuild a block and put in brand new seals on squeaky-clean parts, touque the nuts to spec, fire up the motor and let it run for a while, sut it down and go home. Next morning, oil all over the locomotive. dripping from every seal. He figured the component parts moved enough during the test phase that they broke the seal.
So they tried other things - even gasket cement and “liquid gasket” and re-torquing while hot, re-torquing after cooling, yada yada. Leak leak.
Two)) Because
I do remember reading that the NASA space shuttle crawlers are powered by two ALCO engines. I wonder what they sound like.
Adrianspeeder
LC the following is the script for the following responses (which you never got) to your question and Railpac’s (and Jim) reply
LC. Why do Alcos leak so much?
Railpac. Because.
LC Because why?
Railpac Because I said so that’s why!
But I had to confess and save everyone from that terrible dialog. [:p]
As for surviving PA’s, I believe that there is a drive afoot to preserve one of the Brazilian PA’s (the only export PA’s). Three were built for the Paulista.
Alco also was a pretty strong player in the export market. India is still building 251-powered locomotives under license and Australia and Argentina still have sizable fleets of Alco-built or Alco-designed locomotives.
But according to the roster on this webpage, http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/gmo/gmo-diesel.html, the GM&O had two RS-3s.
OK John, et al, this is one that might not be found in any book, therefore, others reading this thread may have to help you answer this question.
What was the single most common horn used on Alco locomotives? I do not have the answer. Maybe LC can give us some help. I am not sure if we can even get the correct answer and if we do how will we know it is correct? The “Horn” thread made me think about this.
True,
that probably cannot be found in any book. [;)] Mostly because of the fact that different RRs prefered different horns, and adding to that horns generally differed from locomotive model to locomotive model even on the same RR. I’m gonna take a stab at it; since ALCo. sold more earlier locomotive models (pre-Century) and largest sellers were the S-2 and RS-3, I’m going to guess that the most common horn (as delivered) was a single note factory standard. But, thats just a guess. If I am right, even so, most RRs probably changed the horns on those locos some time in their career. [:)][:D][8D]
Jim-
I think you have me mistaken for someone else. I have no idea. As to horns I seldom deal with them unless they are broken and then I just try to get them so they’ll blow. Hmmm…that reminds me…
LC
More thoughts at large about Alcos. We are all quite familiar with two varieties of the Alco flatnose, the FA and PA, but how many are aware of the existence of the third variety of the flatnose, the DL500C, also known as the World Locomotive? It has a resemblance to an FA with a shorter nose, C-C trucks, and a second cab in the flat end.