Hi Everyone,
I just bought an old copy of "Diesel Era" Magazine from 1994, which goes through the diesel history of the PRSL. (Great article- very comprehensive). Anyhow, there is a blurb in there that says that in the late 1960s, PRSL management was strongly considering the purchase of a fleet of Alco C415's to supplement and replace the Baldwins. For those that don't know, an ALCO C415 was a center-cab 1500 roadswitcher- of which only 26 were produced. Of course, PRSL did not order C415's, but wisely went for GP38s.
Does anyone know how close the PRSL was to purchasing the C415s? I can imagine that they would be useful in switching duties, but not sure how useful they would be in road freight service.
One more diesel note, the Monon RR Historical Society- http://www.monon.org/diesel.html, has published an all-time roster of diesels owned by that railroad. In it, they said that three of their BL2s were sold for scrap to the PRSL in 1969. What was the purpose of this? Was the PRSL so short for power at that time that they wanted 20-year old branch line diesels? Or was the purpose to get $$ credit from General Motors toward the purchase of the GP38s? Wonder if any of the parts were reused from the Monon BL2's in the 2000-2009 GP38s?
Any insight on either the C415s or the BL2's would be helpful...
Thanks..
-Mike
I just bought an old copy of "Diesel Era" Magazine from 1994, which goes through the diesel history of the PRSL. (Great article- very comprehensive). Anyhow, there is a blurb in there that says that in the late 1960s, PRSL management was strongly considering the purchase of a fleet of Alco C415's to supplement and replace the Baldwins. For those that don't know, an ALCO C415 was a center-cab 1500 roadswitcher- of which only 26 were produced. Of course, PRSL did not order C415's, but wisely went for GP38s.
Does anyone know how close the PRSL was to purchasing the C415s? I can imagine that they would be useful in switching duties, but not sure how useful they would be in road freight service.
One more diesel note, the Monon RR Historical Society- http://www.monon.org/diesel.html, has published an all-time roster of diesels owned by that railroad. In it, they said that three of their BL2s were sold for scrap to the PRSL in 1969. What was the purpose of this? Was the PRSL so short for power at that time that they wanted 20-year old branch line diesels? Or was the purpose to get $$ credit from General Motors toward the purchase of the GP38s? Wonder if any of the parts were reused from the Monon BL2's in the 2000-2009 GP38s?
Any insight on either the C415s or the BL2's would be helpful...
Thanks..
-Mike
