Railroad Forums 

  • Status of M420TR # 27

  • Discussion of products from the American Locomotive Company. A web site with current Alco 251 information can be found here: Fairbanks-Morse/Alco 251.
Discussion of products from the American Locomotive Company. A web site with current Alco 251 information can be found here: Fairbanks-Morse/Alco 251.

Moderator: Alcoman

 #440495  by The Man
 
Ya I spoke to Dingman. But as John said to me... It would be the same as the 1502 and 1508 just better. Still have the issue of two unit's doing the job of one 2000 HP ALCO..

JJH-
BTW..... How is CA?

 #440809  by LocoEngineer7
 
The Man wrote:Ya I spoke to Dingman. But as John said to me... It would be the same as the 1502 and 1508 just better. Still have the issue of two unit's doing the job of one 2000 HP ALCO..

JJH-
BTW..... How is CA?
So, why not have ADK buy a nice RS-18u? Or would 1800hp not be enough? I know where there is one for sale nearby...

 #440810  by Paul
 
California is way too hot. 110º at my house yesterday, it was well after dark before it dropped into the 90s.

 #449664  by oibu
 
"27 nolonger has the hi-ad trucks"

Did it ever???

AFAIK, it was built with ZWTs and later switched out in favor of type Bs. Never seen evidence of either of the M420TRs ever having had Hi-Ads. Type Bs are better for switching so that is probably why tehy got rid of the ZWTs. I don't see any reason to switch from ZWTs to Hi-Ads other than they needed to replace a truck and Hi-Ads were on sale that day. Pretty darn sure they never had 'em anyway though.

 #449684  by pablo
 
I think some of the ones built for the Mexican roads had the hi-ads. Perhaps I am wrong...but when I saw the TR for sale by the scrap dealer by Montreal a few years ago, it didn't have Hi-Ads.

Dave Becker

 #449709  by Alcoman
 
oibu wrote:"27 nolonger has the hi-ad trucks"

Did it ever???

AFAIK, it was built with ZWTs and later switched out in favor of type Bs. Never seen evidence of either of the M420TRs ever having had Hi-Ads. Type Bs are better for switching so that is probably why tehy got rid of the ZWTs. I don't see any reason to switch from ZWTs to Hi-Ads other than they needed to replace a truck and Hi-Ads were on sale that day. Pretty darn sure they never had 'em anyway though.
The 2 M420TR's # 26 and 27 were built with MLW style(ZWT)s. The R&S changed theirs in favor of the style "B" trucks that were common on the Long Island RR units that were in use up there at the time. Easier for maintenance purposes.
The ZWT was MLW's version of Alco's Hi-Ad truck. While not the same truck, the zwt served the same purpose.
I have a builders photo of one of these with the ZWT truck shown. All MLW 4 axle road units were built using this truck. Look at any M420 from CN.

 #449736  by oibu
 
Well, all MLW roadswitshers after the ZWT was put into use, anyhow. :wink: It is true that MLW went directly from the Type B to the ZWT and, at least for "domestic" units, never built a unit with Hi-Ads (same goes for 6 motor units going diretcly from Trimounts to the short-wheelbase MLW design and foregoing the Alco-design Hi-ad).

I was just wondering how Hi-Ads got into the discussion. Since I've never seen evidence of R-S ever having Hi-ads under them (or anything else, for that matter) I was looking to clarify if this was confusion re: truck terminology or if in fact one or both R-S M420Trs ever actually had Hi-ads. They were definitely built with ZWTs, and I would say with 99% confidence R-S never had Hi-Ads under them, but I don't know what might have ended up under them after they left the R-S.

 #449971  by The Man
 
All true.... The unit was built with the ZWT truck and not the Hi-ad truck as I said. My bad for that one. I see them as one in the same. But you are right. As for an update.. The parts for the 27 are coming in and we are sure that the unit may see service in the 07 season! Cards have been hard to come by and getting costly and we had to rebuild the tackgen as well as the glazing issue. Paint is still being talked about but I think you will see this unit run it's first trains with the R&S colors with some sort of stripe. Four batteries have been pulled from live storage and four more on the way. New lube oil and filters are on hand as well as new gauges and lights. A ditch light switch was located from another project that was dead and the ditch lights are in stock. We are getting to the point of just getting it in the shop so the parts can be installed.

 #452058  by traingeek8223
 
As far as paint goes, I think it would look good painted like the 4243 is. Black over green with Yelloy stripes and lettering.

 #490775  by Alcoman
 
Hey JJ,
I was over there today. Talked with Tom and a couple of others. If it was not for the meeting, I would have come in. Good luck with the 27. Lets us know when the evaluation of 27 is done. Hope it in decent shape.
John

 #490954  by traingeek8223
 
What a differance a few days make. I was there on Mon. and both 'loco's were out side.

 #497282  by The Man
 
Well we have some news on the 27. It has been in the shop and we have found that it has some bad liners and needed some metal work witch has been done. It also had no oil drain pipe..... Turns out it burst because it had water in it. At this point we know we need one new PA.. After that who knows. But I can say the glass is in and the air filter cases have been rebuilt and it "MIGHT" run in the 08 season. But since the 8223 and 4243 are in sevice and need work done to them they will come first. But ADCR may have some other projects soon as well.

JJ-