Alco 855

[ic9623]

Does anyone know what happened to the giant ALCO 855's? I have seen picturees of them but you never hear about how they ran and pulled.

[Allen Hazen]

Only three built (two A, one B). People have said they were very unreliable: frequent road failures. (Somehow not TOO surprising given that they were a new non-standard design putting LOTS of power into their DC generators.)
I don't know the details of their fate but I assume they were scrapped at a fairly early date.

[SSW9389]

The giant ALCO trio was retired in 1970, sold for scrap on 9/13/71 to Industrial Maintenance Service at Council Bluffs, IA. The units were moved to Houston, TEXAS and scrapped by Houston Armature Works from 12/71 to 2/72. I am guessing the engines may have been saved for marine use. This information is from Don Strack's rosters at http://utahrails.net/

[ic9623]

Thanks for the info. Sure is a shame they did not save one!

[mp15ac]

According to one source (I can't remember where) there were two electrical cabinets in each unit (one for each prime mover). ALCO apparently wired one of the the electrical cabinets in each unit BACKWARDS. When the set left Omaha for there first trip west, when tey went through the first transistion the electrical cabinets exploded! The train had to be dragged back to the yard, the C855's cut off and sent for repairs. It was all downhill for them from there.

Stuart

[SSW9389]

I think EMD's Jack Wheelihan wrote that up in CTC Board. He was on an adjacent set of DD35s and saw the whole thing.

According to one source (I can't remember where) there were two electrical cabinets in each unit (one for each prime mover). ALCO apparently wired one of the the electrical cabinets in each unit BACKWARDS. When the set left Omaha for there first trip west, when tey went through the first transistion the electrical cabinets exploded! The train had to be dragged back to the yard, the C855's cut off and sent for repairs. It was all downhill for them from there.

Stuart