ALCO 16-244 ENGINE ON E-BAY

There is a Alco 16 cylinder 244 for sale on E-bay going for $16,000.
This is one rare engine as there are no other 16 cylinder examples of the 244 anywhere in North America.
This engine would be a great addition to a museum or even a PA.....
I do hope someone can save it.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ALCO-240 ... 5618QQrdZ1

Is this the same engine that was on ebay a year or two ago?

Yes, and I hope someone grabs it as I fear it will be scrapped if there are no takers.

Unless there are two of these around, that is the engine from Philadelphia Gear at King of Prussia. We looked at it maybe four years ago, when it went on eBay the first time. We made the Smithsonian aware of it, but at the time they had no interest (or budget); perhaps things have changed.

If it were a 12-244, I know several parties that would snap it up at that price. But as a 16 cylinder, there are no railroad uses left for it at this point other than the PAs. Smithsonian apparently has no plans (yet) to restore their unit, and Doyle is pretty much committed to the 12-251 he got from BC Rail.

A museum in Auburn or Schenectady would be a nice place for it.

From what i am told, Doyle is doing the Smithsonians unit once he finishes his, and it was to be stuffed and mounted, not runnable.

The ad on ebay says it's a 241, not a 244. True or just a typo?

A typo....Alco never put the 241 into production.

... and there was never a 16-241. The three Black Maria units were all 12s.
It has been confirmed on another forum that this is the Phila Gear engine; I inspected it the first time around on eBay, and it is a 244 beyond any shadow of a doubt.

From i can see of the Motor, that looks just like the ones that are used on the Crawler transporters that NASA still uses.

Am I wrong here????

Daniel

Close....but the ones Nasa uses are 251 engines, not 244's.

anyone have any photos of 251's ?\

Yes, I have some photos of 251's taken at Alcos Auburn plant. I have to scan them and upload them. If you e-mail me off list, I can e-mail directly.
I am not sure about posting them here however.

If it goes for scrap you can pick it up for less than 16k. I hear 1/3 of scrap value is what scrappers bid on locomotives (used to be). We all know they dont care about historical significance.