As with the “EMD Export Locomotives” thread in the “EMD – Electro-Motive” forum, this thread is started partly to provide documentary evidence for Alco export locomotive models that were catalogued but not built, in support of the thread "Diesels Catalogued, but not Built"in the forum General Discussion: Locomotives, Rolling Stock, and Equipment. But it may also serve as an accumulator for information on Alco export models.
A significant web source on Alco exports is Rolf Stumpf’s ALCoWorld, at http://alcoworld.railfan.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Richard Steinbrenner’s Alco history book, “A Centennial Remembrance”, is also most useful as it lists several diesel locomotive models that were catalogued but not built.
Alco evidently expanded its standard export model catalogue in 1956 October, whereafter there were several basic models, including the DL-531, whereas previously there had been one, namely the DL-500. (Steinbrenner p.374)
Advertising of this new range in trade journals started in mid-1957.
The standard version of the DL-531, as the RSD-8, had C-C running gear with trimount trucks, but an A1A-A1A version was available (Steinbrenner p.380). As far as I can tell from the available Alco export production lists, no A1A-A1A-trucked DL531s were built.
Steinbrenner also recorded the RS-8 variant with B-B trucks, known as the DL-532. This variant was built, but curiously, the first tranche, for RFFSA Brasil, were recorded as DL-531, not DL-532.
This is apparent from the attached Alco advertisement in “Diesel Railway Traction” for 1959 September. It shows 77 DL-531 as having been delivered to three Brasilian railways. 57 of these were the C-C RSD-8, and 20 were the B-B RS-8.
Later deliveries of the RS-8 to other roads were listed as DL-532B.
The uprated 6-cylinder DL-535, RSD-30 of 1961, appears to have been offered in C-C form only. Steinbrenner (p.408, 409) did not mention any other running gear options. He did though note the availability of the DL-534, RSD-31 and RSC-31, which had the 950 hp version of the 6-251 in the DL-535 frame. So the DL-534 had an A1A-A1A option. As best I can tell, none of the DL-534 were built.
Once the DL-535 became available, sales of the DL-531 stopped outside of Australia. That is, all of the non-Australian C-C business went to the DL-535. But sales of the DL-532B continued.
The Australian version of the DL-531, as built by licensee Goodwin, differed somewhat from the original. It was longer, 44’3” instead of 42’0”, the extra length accounted for by longer overhangs that accommodated end-platforms. Truck centres remained the same, but the truck wheelbase went from 11’6” to 12’0”, this being achieved by extending the centre-to-inner axle spacing by 6 inches.
So the catalogued-but-not-built Alco standard export “sixes” appear to have been:
DL-531, RSC-8 A1A-A1A
DL-534, RSC-31, A1A-A1A
DL-534, RSD-31, C-C
Also appropriate for inclusion here is the DL-515, which was the DL-535 frame fitted with the 8-251E engine. (Steinbrenner p.413) At 1500 hp (traction) it would have been competitive with the GE U15C, and was actually a little ahead of this GE model, as it would have been listed when the GE “eight” was still the U13B/C.
An 8-cylinder export model was later realized by MLW as the MX615, sold to Nigeria and Malawi, but it was based upon the same frame as used for the 12-cylinder MX-620 et al, which in turn followed the DL-541/DL-543 in its major dimensions.
Cheers,
A significant web source on Alco exports is Rolf Stumpf’s ALCoWorld, at http://alcoworld.railfan.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Richard Steinbrenner’s Alco history book, “A Centennial Remembrance”, is also most useful as it lists several diesel locomotive models that were catalogued but not built.
Alco evidently expanded its standard export model catalogue in 1956 October, whereafter there were several basic models, including the DL-531, whereas previously there had been one, namely the DL-500. (Steinbrenner p.374)
Advertising of this new range in trade journals started in mid-1957.
The standard version of the DL-531, as the RSD-8, had C-C running gear with trimount trucks, but an A1A-A1A version was available (Steinbrenner p.380). As far as I can tell from the available Alco export production lists, no A1A-A1A-trucked DL531s were built.
Steinbrenner also recorded the RS-8 variant with B-B trucks, known as the DL-532. This variant was built, but curiously, the first tranche, for RFFSA Brasil, were recorded as DL-531, not DL-532.
This is apparent from the attached Alco advertisement in “Diesel Railway Traction” for 1959 September. It shows 77 DL-531 as having been delivered to three Brasilian railways. 57 of these were the C-C RSD-8, and 20 were the B-B RS-8.
Later deliveries of the RS-8 to other roads were listed as DL-532B.
The uprated 6-cylinder DL-535, RSD-30 of 1961, appears to have been offered in C-C form only. Steinbrenner (p.408, 409) did not mention any other running gear options. He did though note the availability of the DL-534, RSD-31 and RSC-31, which had the 950 hp version of the 6-251 in the DL-535 frame. So the DL-534 had an A1A-A1A option. As best I can tell, none of the DL-534 were built.
Once the DL-535 became available, sales of the DL-531 stopped outside of Australia. That is, all of the non-Australian C-C business went to the DL-535. But sales of the DL-532B continued.
The Australian version of the DL-531, as built by licensee Goodwin, differed somewhat from the original. It was longer, 44’3” instead of 42’0”, the extra length accounted for by longer overhangs that accommodated end-platforms. Truck centres remained the same, but the truck wheelbase went from 11’6” to 12’0”, this being achieved by extending the centre-to-inner axle spacing by 6 inches.
So the catalogued-but-not-built Alco standard export “sixes” appear to have been:
DL-531, RSC-8 A1A-A1A
DL-534, RSC-31, A1A-A1A
DL-534, RSD-31, C-C
Also appropriate for inclusion here is the DL-515, which was the DL-535 frame fitted with the 8-251E engine. (Steinbrenner p.413) At 1500 hp (traction) it would have been competitive with the GE U15C, and was actually a little ahead of this GE model, as it would have been listed when the GE “eight” was still the U13B/C.
An 8-cylinder export model was later realized by MLW as the MX615, sold to Nigeria and Malawi, but it was based upon the same frame as used for the 12-cylinder MX-620 et al, which in turn followed the DL-541/DL-543 in its major dimensions.
Cheers,