ALP 44's

Lots of ALP 44's stored in Port Morris..where are they going??

Scrap probably, seeing as they all have plated over windows and pans removed. I got pics of 4416 and 4431 when they were in Dover on 3/31.

northjerseybuff wrote:Lots of ALP 44's stored in Port Morris..where are they going??

Port Morris... or anywhere else that's out of the way.

I received a report about them being in Dover two weeks ago and suspected that they had been brought to Port Morris, and I finally got a chance to find them today. I thought this was news, but it looks like you beat me to it!

There are four units in Port Morris. It was hard to see numbers from my vantage point, but Ken says that 4416 and 4431 were two of them, and I saw that 4425 is on the west end of the string. Not sure of the number of the fourth unit, but I'll find out tomorrow and get pictures.

They are visible from Kings Highway in Landing, a little over a half mile from Landing Road.

Here's a bad shot of 4425 through the woods, but it's the best I could do. I'll hopefully have better photos tomorrow.

Sad that the ALP's were at least twenty years old when they were retired. What a waste of a good locomotive. Look at SEPTA, they're using aging Comet 1's and Comet II's, look at NJTransit, burning through everything. The Comet IV's will be retired pretty soon and the F40's are definantly next. Sad, sad, wastes.

There are more than 4 there..more like 10-15 or the entire fleet, but its hard to see whizzing by

NJT4115 wrote:Sad that the ALP's were at least twenty years old when they were retired. What a waste of a good locomotive. Look at SEPTA, they're using aging Comet 1's and Comet II's, look at NJTransit, burning through everything. The Comet IV's will be retired pretty soon and the F40's are definantly next. Sad, sad, wastes.

Not if Transit is getting government grants for new equipment. If they're offered the money, they have to either spend it or decline it, in which case it gets spent elsewhere for Transit to never see again. If they have the ability to buy new equipment at someone else's expense, why not? Yes, it comes out of the pockets of the taxpayers, but their money will be spent somehow, even if it's not on new trains...

northjerseybuff wrote:There are more than 4 there..more like 10-15 or the entire fleet, but its hard to see whizzing by

Ok, the initial report I had only said four units. There must have been more brought out here either before or after that, then. I'll find out tomorrow and do my best to get a count of units, numbers, and photos.

NJT4115 wrote:Sad that the ALP's were at least twenty years old when they were retired. What a waste of a good locomotive. Look at SEPTA, they're using aging Comet 1's and Comet II's, look at NJTransit, burning through everything. The Comet IV's will be retired pretty soon and the F40's are definantly next. Sad, sad, wastes.

You have to consider that it was determined to be more cost effective for NJT to purchase newer and more powerful ALP 46A's than to rebuild the 44's. The M's were the worst and they were the youngest of the bunch.

NJT4115 wrote:Sad that the ALP's were at least twenty years old when they were retired. What a waste of a good locomotive. Look at SEPTA, they're using aging Comet 1's and Comet II's, look at NJTransit, burning through everything. The Comet IV's will be retired pretty soon and the F40's are definantly next. Sad, sad, wastes.

NJTs equipment is much more worn out than Septas, and most has many many more miles on it....age is not the only factor with regard to equipment condition.

The 46 and 46As are far less frequent in breaking down. As they should be.

It is kind of nice not having one of the Gladstone MidTOWN Direct sets not crap out somewhere randomly on the line. Then they have to figure out a way to not have it blocking the line (get it to a siding) so that the other trains can pass and then wait for a rescue engine to bring it back to the club house. This was happening once or twice a year sometimes.

Sure, some of the 44s could have lived on for a few years more.... but, their days were numbered.

Remember that before the 46s arrived in 2001/2002.... the 44s were handling all of NJT's push-pull sets on all of the lines. That's a great deal of work for these little engines.... and it meant most of them being used almost every day, almost all day.

Exactly JT. The SEPTA PP sets are like grandma’s car: only make one round trip a day, gently ran, and stay in for the weekends. The NJT sets are like NYC Taxis driven by a bi-polar cabbie on crank. Two different paradigms in operation and cannot be equally compared within a “time” period.

Does anyone know the average mileage of the SEPTA PP’s today and the NJT ALP 44’s when retired?

bi-polar cabbie at NJT ?? now thats insulting, JT go get him

DutchRailnut wrote:bi-polar cabbie at NJT ?? now thats insulting, JT go get him

R u kidding? I take that as a compliment!

Get in.....
Sit down.....
Shut up....
Hold on

Follow those 4 basic rules and when riding NJT you will NEVER have any problems! They should put that on the public timetables.....

As for mileage, well, I don't know about Septa, and I don't remember the odometers in the 44s, but to give an idea as to the mileage NJT puts on its stuff, most multilevels are in the mid 200,000 range, some now topping 300,000. I saw an MU the other day with the electrical cabinet open and from what I could tell at a quick glace, it was about 1.5 million. Im assuming thats from the rebuild in 1992/3. Most 46As are getting close to 100,000.

I would assume that the older 44s had similar mileage to the MUs - of course the newer 44s (the Ms) had less mileage, but they were not nearly as robust or as good as the older '44s. Think of them like an SD50....a transition loco, and not a good one. Would get the job done, but aggravate the heck out of you.

The 44s were "ridden hard and put away wet" - before the 46s were delivered and got the bugs out of them in the 02-03 timeframe, they were covering all electric assignments, they were constantly running and push pull sets were always in short demand. As soon as one became available, it was grabbed for service. Even after the 46s came, it didn't help much in giving the 44s a break because of the increased service with Midtown Direct/Montclair and the change in voltage on the Coast Line, meaning pushpulls were now in demand even more.

As far as I know, most of them should be making their way up to Port Morris and there should be at least about 15 up there by now. They are not destined for scrap, or at least not yet, they are just in "long term storage". They are covering all the windows with steel plates to protect the cabs and the insides of the loco.

Anyway.........

Does anyone know the date that the ALP46's entered revenue service on NJT?? Was it late 2002 or 2003?? I remember them hauling cars on the NE Corridor in the beginning, but don't remember on the M&E...Thanks!