by Allen Hazen
A week ago (Saturday, 29 August 2015, to be exact) i was in Portland, Oregon, and visited the Oregon Rail Heritage Center (*), where one of the artifacts on exhibit was Doyle McCormack's (ex-FCdelP, ex-D&H, ex-ATSF) Alco PA-1, now painted as NYC&StL 190. (I've touched it!)
Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!
Restoration is not quite finished. Externally, the grills along the upper edge of the carbody sides are still to be installed. According to a docent, the traction motors have been tested (and work) and the diesel engine and generator have been tested (and work), but the cabling connecting them hasn't been done yet: he thought it would be operable next year.
Elsewhere on this forum there is a string entitled "PA-1 traction motors": for the sort of people who found IT interesting I here report what I could glean in a short visit.
(1) The descriptive plaque in front of it said the engine and control system were from the M-420 donor. (So there is a 12-251 engine, as there was after it was rebuilt for D&H. And I assume the traction generator is the one -- a (apparently Canada-only) GE model (GTA-17 I think: similar to a GTA-11 but smaller for lower power applications) -- from the M-420.
(2) The trucks are, as widely reported, the FM version of the outside drop equalizer truck. The docent thought they had been made in Canada (note that CN had some 5-axle passenger C-liners, so there WERE some trucks of this sort used on Canadian-built locomotives): two of the "hub-caps" covering the axle ends (first and last on the left side of the unit) have "Made in Canada" embossed on them. (Four -- the ones on the right side of the powered axles -- have GE axle-generators and no room for embossing. The other six just say SKF.) On the other hand, the truck frames have the General Steel Castings G-in-a-shield emblem, so I think they were actually U.S.-built (it has been reported in the press that they are from ex-PRR "Erie Built" units used as mobile rail welding plants), but must have had bearing work done in Canada.
(3) According to the docent, the trucks had traction motors in them when McCormack bought them, and these are the traction motors currently installed! (I can imagine that it would be handy for a mobile rail-welding unit, used to weld rail joints out on the line, to be able to move itself under its own power. Does anyone know how these units were actually used in their later days?) It's possible that the PRR or a later owner replaced the original traction motors with a more common variety, but it is also possible that they are the original GE 746 motors from the Erie-built!!! (Ironically, though some Santa Fe PA-1 were apparently delivered with 746 motors, this unit, 62L on the Santa Fe, was part of a later (1948) order with 752 motors. So this could end up being the only recorded replacement of 752 with 746 motors under a PA-1.)
(*) A very nice small railroad museum: three steam and two diesel locomotives on display, all but one INDOORS, along with a caboose and about three passenger cars. Admission free, open in afternoons Thursday-Sunday. Largely volunteers, docents anxious to answer questions.
It's near OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) and the place where a preserved submarine is moored. Located between an active U.P. line and a shortline whose proprietor -- at least on summer Saturdays -- runs excursions from the museum, using a Canadian-built EMD light roadswitcher. Can be reached by Portland Streetcar, making it one of those rare rail museums that can actually be reached by rail!
Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!
Restoration is not quite finished. Externally, the grills along the upper edge of the carbody sides are still to be installed. According to a docent, the traction motors have been tested (and work) and the diesel engine and generator have been tested (and work), but the cabling connecting them hasn't been done yet: he thought it would be operable next year.
Elsewhere on this forum there is a string entitled "PA-1 traction motors": for the sort of people who found IT interesting I here report what I could glean in a short visit.
(1) The descriptive plaque in front of it said the engine and control system were from the M-420 donor. (So there is a 12-251 engine, as there was after it was rebuilt for D&H. And I assume the traction generator is the one -- a (apparently Canada-only) GE model (GTA-17 I think: similar to a GTA-11 but smaller for lower power applications) -- from the M-420.
(2) The trucks are, as widely reported, the FM version of the outside drop equalizer truck. The docent thought they had been made in Canada (note that CN had some 5-axle passenger C-liners, so there WERE some trucks of this sort used on Canadian-built locomotives): two of the "hub-caps" covering the axle ends (first and last on the left side of the unit) have "Made in Canada" embossed on them. (Four -- the ones on the right side of the powered axles -- have GE axle-generators and no room for embossing. The other six just say SKF.) On the other hand, the truck frames have the General Steel Castings G-in-a-shield emblem, so I think they were actually U.S.-built (it has been reported in the press that they are from ex-PRR "Erie Built" units used as mobile rail welding plants), but must have had bearing work done in Canada.
(3) According to the docent, the trucks had traction motors in them when McCormack bought them, and these are the traction motors currently installed! (I can imagine that it would be handy for a mobile rail-welding unit, used to weld rail joints out on the line, to be able to move itself under its own power. Does anyone know how these units were actually used in their later days?) It's possible that the PRR or a later owner replaced the original traction motors with a more common variety, but it is also possible that they are the original GE 746 motors from the Erie-built!!! (Ironically, though some Santa Fe PA-1 were apparently delivered with 746 motors, this unit, 62L on the Santa Fe, was part of a later (1948) order with 752 motors. So this could end up being the only recorded replacement of 752 with 746 motors under a PA-1.)
(*) A very nice small railroad museum: three steam and two diesel locomotives on display, all but one INDOORS, along with a caboose and about three passenger cars. Admission free, open in afternoons Thursday-Sunday. Largely volunteers, docents anxious to answer questions.
It's near OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) and the place where a preserved submarine is moored. Located between an active U.P. line and a shortline whose proprietor -- at least on summer Saturdays -- runs excursions from the museum, using a Canadian-built EMD light roadswitcher. Can be reached by Portland Streetcar, making it one of those rare rail museums that can actually be reached by rail!