In what appears to be your collective, unlimited source of knowlage, I hoping you fine folks could help me track down this ALCO's history. Currently working....er, stored...owned by..yeah that's better.....owned by Don Hearn & Sons at Lasalle packing in Amherstburg Ontario is an S-3 (we think) currently stenciled with her previous boss' reporting maks. She's AKMD 317. I ask this question because my group is currently restoring her and we'd like to number and paint her properly.
Under the AKMD....I can still see most of another blacked out reporting mark and I think it reads MWRX. We have been told she's an ex-Wabash out of the Detroit area, but I have also found a picture of her as part of a train most likely being brought up here. The photographer had labled her as an ex-C&O.
Is there anyone out here who can help me find her original number and what system she first worked for?
The builders plate is long gone.
This engine is NOT turbo charged, which tells me she's an S-1, but we've also heard she was re-engined at somepoint.
This is the problem....everything we've been told about her is rumour!
Hmmm......I admit confusion lol. Where is this silver stack? The stack on 317 here (the black one) is all black with a rain stopper on top like on a semi. There is a photo of ETR#101 in my gallery with a long silver stack. Is that what your talking about or am I oblivious to somethibng right in front of my eyes? (a TOTAL possibility!)
Are you maybe speaking of these gawd awful air filters on her?
Since you guys have no documented history on this unit, I would suggest getting a "DA" sander, and gently sand down through the layers of paint.( use water in the sanding process). If you are careful, you will eventually get down to the original paint job without damage. And by the way, Since it has "AAR" trucks rather than "Blunt trucks", it is either an S-3, or S-4. Check to see if there is a turbocharger on the exhaust manifold. If turbo, it's an S-4, if no turbo, it's an S-3. Looks to me as if this is a post-1950 unit since it appears to have a welded versus riveted carbody. Is there still a builders plate on the frame? If not, see if there is an FRA "blue card" still in the cab. If all that fails, last chance is checking the serial numbers on the engine block. You would have to check ALCO/MLW archives to decipher that info.
She's got no turbocharger, no builders plate, pretty sure she's been re-engined, and...where would one go about locating this "blue card"? Would/should it be somewhere specific?
As for the carbody, there are rivets everywhere. We were told she was made in '56, but like everything else, it's just a rumour!
Strange thing....I found some photos of her by two different photogs. One caught her as part of a train in '06 coming up this way and says her serial number is 76071. The other is from here in Essex county, and photographed her at her current home. He says her serial number is 75294. Here are some beginners questions...but that's what I am lol
1) Where would they locate these numbers with no plate
2) Why would they give different #'s....is there more than one spot to find them?
Either way, I can't seem to find either number in any rosters I can find. But I don't have a computer at home and do this from work, so alot of my avenues of exploration are blocked.
Number is on the frame. Usualy near a step. Most of the time the right front step. Only one reason there are two numbers one or both is wrong. Blue Card is supposed to be displayed in the cab, where the FRA can (or what ever the Canadian verson of the FRA is) see it. Usualy in a plexiglass holder. Oh and a blue card is exactly what it say its a blue card, usualy the size of a sheet of paper, that contains (sometimes) the previous unit number, and all the time, what model, what propulation (d-e diesel electric), when it was last inspected for 92 day inspection, who did the inspection, where, ect. ect. ect. all kinds of stuff.
Now that you say where that blue card would likely be, I recall Monday when I was scraping some paint inside the cab on the firemans side just above the window there's plexiglass in a sheet metal frame about the size of a sheet of paper folded lenghtwise, maybe a little bigger...but I can't remember if anything was in it. I'll have to check next time I'm out at the engine.
By appearance this is certainly an S-3. Small round stack, AAR trucks, and narrow radiator shutters. The most accurate way to identify this unit's past is by getting the serial number from the frame. As posted earlier, it should be on the right front corner near the steps or maybe on the end near the top left. It is usually stamped on diagonally opposite corners of every unit. You may need to do a little scraping to find it though most are visible through multiple layers of paint. Should be about 1.5 cm high numbers. Then go to thedieselshop.us website and look up the serial number under ALCO switchers. Other than a few typos here and there, this is an excellent website for tracing unit histories and has a pretty good roster section too.
Trying to track it through past industrial owners can be an excercise in frustration as often ownership was short term and not well documented. If a dealer was involved along the way, it can get even more confusing. Rebuilding can muddy the water further as engines and trucks could have easily been changed along the way. Stick to the frame/serial number.
The serial number you guessed earlier is incorrect as that one, 75294, belonged to Union Pacific FA-1 1505A built 7/47. Even the most enthusiastic rebuilder wouldn't be able to pull off that transformation.
The serial number will solve your mystery.
Here's the two pictures I found online of her coming up to Windsor in 2006 so you can get a better look at her. I really should have more photos of her of my own but I always forget to bring my camera out there
Poor girl really got beat up since then.......
I so desperatly want to get those headlights back in! I hate the ones on her now, they totally change the look. And she looks better without the reflective tape on her.
Here's a dumb question.......why do locomotives have those "dimples" I'll call for now, on all 4 corners? Seems like they go waaaaaaaaay back in railroading. What purpose to they serve?
The "dimples" are poling pockets. If you look at engine photos from the 40s-70s you'll often see a wooden pole about 10-12 feet long hanging beside the truck of diesels or along side the tender of steam locomotives, switchers in particular. The pole would be used to push cars on adjacent tracks by aligning the pole in the pockets of the locomotive and the car to be pushed. A typical use would be pushing cars out of sidings where the switch was facing the wrong way and there was no way to run around the cars.
The process was dangerous as a man had to hold the pole to align it, then walk along near it as it would often fall out if pressure wasn't maintained. The poles were also prone to splintering and injuring said worker. Braking of the cars being pushed would also need to be done by hand. The process was eventually banned as a safety hazard in the late 70s or early 80s.
Fascinating to watch, scary to participate in.
Per the Dieselshop Serial # 76071 belongs to FB-1 UP 1642C.
This could well be S-1 with a truck swap, Don't know if there is a roller bearing application for the Blunt truck. No class I road would handle if didn't have rollers and the AAR style truck allows a higher speed than the blunt.. Unit would have had to have a FRA Blue Card for movement in US in 2006, probably long gone now. US/Canadian card not required if not now operated on common carrier.
On the slim chance this unit has always been numbered 317, it might be Erie S-1 built in 1950 with serial 77488. It's a slim chance.
