Any good Alcos for Sale out there?

those RS 23's are scrap at the moment and most "useable" parts (i say that very lightly) were sold to an outfit in moncton new brunswick ISI?

the 23's were garbage to begin with and were over worked and under maintained with CP enternal problems were the thorn in the side at the windsor and hantsport

Just so I'll have this straight in my own head: When did Alco last make locomotives? Never mind the mergers, acquisitions, etc. When was the last locomotive to bear an Alco nameplate manufactured? If it was in the 1950s (or the 1960s or even the 1970s) and any or all of those locomotives are still in sevice, I'd say that speaks well for the brand.

steamal wrote:Just so I'll have this straight in my own head: When did Alco last make locomotives? Never mind the mergers, acquisitions, etc. When was the last locomotive to bear an Alco nameplate manufactured? If it was in the 1950s (or the 1960s or even the 1970s) and any or all of those locomotives are still in sevice, I'd say that speaks well for the brand.

T-6 number 1017 was the last locomotive built by ALCO in Schenectady 1969 for the Newburgh And South Shore.

steamal wrote:I'd say that speaks well for the brand.

I'd say it speaks well of the folks whose job it is to maintain and repair them.

I'd say it speaks well of a successful design, and maintenance people who look after the marque. Nothing wrecks equipment faster than people who dont look after it. Trainmen and maintenance personel included.

2spot wrote:I'd say it speaks well of a successful design, and maintenance people who look after the marque. Nothing wrecks equipment faster than people who dont look after it. Trainmen and maintenance personel included.

Y'know something? You're right about good eqpt. needing good people to look after it. But even a piece-of-know-what Yugo is still a piece of you-know-what if it has the the best pit crew in the world looking after it.

It takes guys like : Alco doc,Pat Conners,Casey Shepard and Kevin McGarvey to name a few to kee those Alcos rollin...
Hats off to all of them! Alcos could be around another 30 years!

Amen, brother.

I meant no disrespect to those who work on Alcos. However, it amazed me that there would still be any Alcos in service so long after the company that made them went out of business. Those who work to maintain them deserve all the respect the rest of us can muster.

Without naming brands, there are locomotives being manufactured today and for the last couple decades that will not last 40+ years. Proof of a successful design is staying power but without dedicated crew operating and maintaining them they will fail. For instance, so many four axled units built nearly 50 years ago are well enough made that manufacturers dont put much effort into building or selling new ones. Besides its cheaper to rebuild a well made locomotive. Even with the best of care a YUGO is still a piece of cr*p.

Its funny that you mentioned the YUGO. Those things had to be re-wired just to use parts made in the U.S., and to handle 12 volt batteries.