Alco PA The Complete Story 2.0 

My apologies! When I was speaking of the alco DL109' production, I meant when the United States entered WWII which was 1941 not the start of the war which was 1939. 1941 was the year the war production board took control of US production 10:59.

The D and H is probably the best looking paint scheme on the PAs. Excellent video!

The New Haven roster 43 FA-1s, 5 FB-1s and 26 PA-1s. All built in the late '40's and all gone by the time I was born in 1958, replaced by Alco RS-3s, RS-11s, EMD FL-9s and FM C-425s.. The last locomotives purchased were the GE U25Bs in the late '60's.

The D&H had a remarkable locomotive roster, not only for the sleek Alco PAs, but also the giant steam locomotives they used for heavy freight tonnage. A truly remarkable railroad! 🚂

The resurrection of Montreal - New York City passenger service in 1974 was called "The Adirondack". The Montrealer was overnight passenger service over Central Vermont across the Lake Champlain.

The red PA demo set was absolutely gorgeous.

I was a a Swing Clerk timekeeper on the one day the books had to be on the train to Mobile via St.Louis. The office was in the large receiving area for the main engine shed, with a massive overhead crane that could lift the housing off the palette, exposing the entire engine for replacement. GMs would be pushed in with rods poking out, never Arcos. The Santa Fe, more than likely, hooked up the Arcos before going west over Raton Pass, but there were many running GM&O very long freight on the flat between Chicago and St. Louis, or KC.

The locos from the old days cause they looked so much better the locos we got now.i love the lines of the rounded stream line shapes of the units.

If you’re ever curious I’d recommend having a look at the alco export DL500s such as the SA 930 class and the NSW 44 class in heritage operations. It’s a beautiful sound the alco 251

I love your Alco videos. The PA's, FA's and FPA's are my favorites

We had Alcos here in Australia specifically in the state of New South Wales. The first mainline diesels were the 20 unit Alcos of 1951 but built in Canada due to the high cost of American dollars at that time with an AIA+AIA wheels arrangement and being very similar to a US switcher design. They could work light weight passenger trains and freight trains but struggled on heavy freight trains. The units usually worked in pairs but their multiple unit jumper cables only had 21 pins where as later diesels all had 27 pins. Their engine was an Alco 244 and subsequent Alco diesels were all of the Co-Co wheel arrangement. Next was the 6 units of the 43 class of 1956 with was a Goninan-Alco-GE again with the Alco 244 engine. The 100 units of the 44 class 1957 Alcos had the 251B engine originally with GE 731 traction motors but later with AEI 253 or 254 traction motors. The the 165 48 class of 1959 with an Alco 251B The the 40 units of the 45 class with Alco 251C engines. 40 units of the 442 class of 1970 with an Alco 12.251C engine and lastly the 50 units of the 80 class of 1978 with a 12.251CE engine. Alco had an Australian agent and builder AE Goodwin Limited who built the 44, 48, 45 and 442 class of Alco locos the 80 class were built by Commonwealth Engineering after AE Goodwin's demise. The state of Victoria was a GM only state and Victorian railway enthusiasts loved to come up to NSW to film Alcos in action and vice versa but NSW also had GM's too. It may seem odd that a state that had relied so much on Britain for it's steam locos should go "American" for diesels. Only one class of diesel loco for NSW came from Britain the 10 units of the 41 class and they were a dismal failure. After that horrible experience British diesel locomotive manufacturers were forever shut out of the standard gauge scene in Australia.

Awsome video. I live about 7 miles from Sayre PA, one of Alco PA's old haunts. I guess what ever Erie had as well as D& H and DLW would have passed near by as well.

31:35 To "forge" a piece of metal is to heat it, pound it, and deform it into the desired shape. There's no "chiseling" involved until the VERY last step - "machining" is the process of *cutting* a shape from a piece of metal. The two are very different. Alco fixed the problem by forging the crankshaft, not machining it.

You've done a great job with this video. You consistently produce great content and this is a prime example!

I remember, as a kid, seeing the shell of the Alco PA that eventually was restored to the NKP 190 sitting in the Union Pacific railyard in Albany, Oregon. It was there for a few years as I recall. If I was on the driver's side of the car, I could look down off the overpass and see this rusted, stripped hulk of a locomotive that I knew nothing about. Years later, I saw it, nearly fully operational, at the Oregon Rail Haritage Center a couple of times. Never saw it running, but I did get to look into the engine room and see the massive prime mover. Not sure if its the Alco prime mover, or and EMD one.

They are an engine that once You see it You never forget it and want to know more, It is a Very Handsome Engine ALCO did Good Here! Thank You !

Emd f series are the most beautiful locos ever built

There's a running ALCO RSD1 at the North Alabama Railroad Museum just outside Huntsville, Alabama.

I grew up watching the New Haven, which owned a bunch of them. I saw them pulling varnish initially, freight later on.

Nice story but you need to do more research on the subject of the prime movers. The 241 was started before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Shortly after the war production board mandated a halt to further development. By 1944 they allowed that development to continue. However the management at Alco was not satisfied with the progress and began the development of the 244 series. You got the problems with the crankshafts and bearing issues but Alco decided to develop their own turbochargers, the 510 and 710 for 12 & 16 cylinder 244s. Several of the features in the 241 series, such as bearing caps and fuel lines were applied to the 251 series. A great deal of material on this is in book Alco A Centennial Remembrance by Richard T Steinbrenner. Along with many other historical information.

Wow you've done your homework here Beautifully presented and narrated...great to see passion

Delaware and Hudson never owned any dome cars. They leased 2 from the Canadian Pacific.

Bravo. Well done👏 I'll have to pull out my PA1/PB1/PA1 NYC the next time I post🚂🇨🇦🇺🇲🙋

Once again you have provided an informative, historical account of the ALCO company.

Outstanding video. Very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing. Dave

Good looking, but the F units were more sleek. These looked kinda chunky up front.

My Life-Like N scale and HO scale Alco PA locomotives run great as well as look good.

great job on my alcos once again sir,great job

This was really a good watch. Thanks. 😊👍👍

la 17 y 19 aun estan en museo de Puebla en Mexico

Enjoy your engine documentaries a lot. My favorite diesel is the GM F3. My Aunt knew I was crazy about trains. She'd take me down to the New Orleans train terminal as a kid and I'd watch them come and go for hours. Do you have any, or can you do a doc on the GM F3? Many thanks, Joe

Very good info. Thanks! Cool layout BTW, I work in a model RR shop in New England.

Superb video, thanks for sharing, from Germany

Love my o gauge gold sf pa in chrome nothing like 244 prime mover sounds chugging around layout with smoke on Max

292 Nice Machine

These Engines are Very Reliable

I went to work for the GN RR in 1968. SP&S had theses locomotives. I worked on them. you need to dig deeper with your research.

Awesome Locomotive 😁🚂

Very informative video. Are the engine models you show in HO scale? If so, who is the manufacturer and who sells them?

This locomotive is wondefull ❤❤❤

So now I know why my con cor n scale PA's make so much noise and need constant attention to run marginally..... There prototipical... 😂😂😂... Still I love the PA locomotives.

Thankyou for a great informational video

Your statement about Alco's production being consolidated at Schenectady NY, is false, the other shop for production until 1969 was the Montreal located Alco Montreal Locomotive Works.

30:48 I would say that the crankshaft is more like the pelvis of an engine. The oil pump is the heart

You got a new sub

Great video, but interrupted by too many ads.🤑

@03:28 you forgot to add bunker oil as a fuel also, it wasn't just coal & water at the time. @14:00 you fail to mention the HP of the S-series of loco's. I won't admit that the PA's were the most beautiful diesel loco's built, but they do have a very beautiful distinctive look. As far as paint schemes go, I think the D & H had the best, followed by the NYC, the RG and then the SF. The worst paint schemes I would vote the NH. I have always loved the design of the Alco 6 axle truck design and that is another distinguishing feature of them. @43:40 I never knew Alco never called them PA-1's or 2"s until after production had ceased....so what did they call them before that time? Great video though.

Too bad you didn't get information on the other Demonstrator units, orange PA/PB, and the Canadian National-painted PA/PA sold to the MKT.

The Napa Valley Wine Train in California was running a PA....

In your archival search for RSC2 pics, did you consider Soo Line and MILW, who rostered those in significant numbers?

I'm pretty sure the Montrealer had negligible impact on tourism in New York State. The Adirondack had not only tourism impact on New York, it had impact on Vermont because of it's summertime stops at Port Kent, NY connecting with the Lake Champlain Transportation Company's scenic Ferries to Burlington (which, alas, are no longer operating) 🥲

please do something about the FPA-2 that B&O bought

was the 251 c ever used in trains. i was in the navy was on lst 1191 with 6, 251 c for main propulsion good engines

Try a British English Electric Deltic for “best looking”.

CORRECTION: World War 2 began in 1939 NOT 1941!!!

Alco PAs lasted 20 years normal lifespan of any Diesel, stop hating on Alco.

1:20 Ing ger sol Rand not In Sol Rand.

Your understanding of the "FCP" in Mexico is terrible. the "FCP" took very good care of these units. Derailments happen in railroading as I saw firsthand in San Bernardino's ATSF shops some very bad wrecked PA's back in the 60"s. The "FCP" did the best they could with these PA's and were proud of them!!!

DL 244 powered Alco RS3s are STILL in everyday revenue service , 70 years old still making money for the railroad.

Alco simply didn't have the money or the talent to take on GM. GE surely didn't help them with some of their boneheaded engineering, like the use of aircraft turbochargers with NO aftercooling. Al Sloan simply bought EMC, added GM manufacturing and engineering principles, deep pocket funding, and waited for Alco to fail with its poorly designed 241-243-244 engines. By the time Richard Vaughn finally came up with the 251 (which had problems of its own) for release in '55, EMD already had 17 years experience with the 567. Game over.

A lot of information covered here but a shame there was more diesel, ALCo and later history than PA history. It took 32 minute out of 59 before you got to the PA. Quite a disappointing video based on that. The AT&SF/ D&H paint scheme was called Warbonnet and not lightning bolt. Just another point that's wrong.

What an uninformed, biased report this is! You obviously have no idea how hard those DL-109s worked and how many miles they had on them when retired. They were anything but a failure. And, how little trouble the New Haven really had with them. Looking at your reply to devonbranstetter9261 below, I can only say having a model of a locomotive certainly does not make you an expert on the real one. Your research on the subject seems to be tainted by citing statistics written by people who had an agenda to discredit Alco. I have actually run DL109s. I know first hand what they were capable of doing. It's too bad that we no longer have access to the people who knew them first hand and could give you the real story. But then... It's a real shame that you do a video on locomotives that a lot of people really like, only to constantly state questionable so called facts about them. But then, carry on, I will just pass on watching anything more you create.

Alco Diesel Giy, ket your facts straight do your research before you put a video out,

You forgot the Erie Lackawanna and D&H with both PA 1 and PA 2

I've said it before and I'll say it again....what the (insert your choice of sentence enhancer here) happened to locomotive design? 🥹😥