"Mythical" LV Alco C620

just for fun!



Someday I plan to model the Modern LV and EL.
Since anything after April 1976 would be pure fiction anyway, with LV SD40-2's and SD70's, why not some fictional older Alcos as well?
Im tempted to try a pair of these in P48 scale..someday.

Scot

Now you're screwing up the Alco catalog! What about the real C620s? They were intended for the Cambrai & Indiana in PA.

Charles

Scot, your gonna have to modify the radiator compartment as well, ala C-420's. The extra flares at the top sides won't be needed, for such a low horsepower loco. You might consider removing the flag, from the nose, and extending the yellow stripe as well............

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:Scot, your gonna have to modify the radiator compartment as well, ala C-420's. The extra flares at the top sides won't be needed, for such a low horsepower loco. You might consider removing the flag, from the nose, and extending the yellow stripe as well............

Good ideas GA, but..
why would I need to remove the flares and the nose flag?
the Alco C620 was built with both,
as can be clearly seen from the prototype photo!

Scot

I've been debating whether I'd like to model the "modern" Lehigh Valley. It would give an opportunity to play with history a bit.

For instance.....

What if the pennsy never took control of the LV. What if the LV took control of the Nickle Plate, extending it's line all the way to Chicago and St. Louis. What if the Penn Central merger severely weakened the NYC and PENN lines (not much of a what if there). What if the LV made agreements with a western road such as the BN or UP for through traffic. Suddenly the LV is part of a transcontinental rail line. Just inagine Cornell Red all the way to Seattle or Oakland.

Ooops, lunch is over. Time to stop dreaming.

Love that C-620!

Modeling the modern LV isn't such a bad idea. I was born in Sayre, still have a lot of family there, and have always wondered 'what if'.....

I model a modern EL....specifically the EL Greenwood Lake Branch. My version of the GLB has it being relaid between Mountain View in Wayne, NJ and the EL mainline between Suffern and Sloatsburg, NY. You can click on the 'www' button below for a view of my little world.

My version of a 'what if' for a modern LV would be Oak Island to Sayre. West of Sayre the LV would have purchased the Southern Tier to Buffalo and abandoned their original line. Sayre would still be the main maintenance center for the railroad, as well as the corporate office location. Of course in my fantasy railroad world the EL would still exist so maybe west of Sayre they share the Southern Tier on trackage rights..........

we could go on forever.........

Just another trip on the BUOI (Buffs Using Overactive Imaginations)

Oooooops, my bad. I should have noticed that.

In my ideal world the LV would survived 1976. The US gov would have saved the Sayre to Buffalo section for SLBMs that moved like the soviets did. (In all honesty, I hate the idea of rail ballistic missles, but it was the only thing I could think of to keep the redundant route alive.) That would have paid the maintenance and taxes. Then the LV could have kept the through traffic. By the 80s a consortium would have put together a stack train from Boston to Seattle via BM, DH (with trackage rights on the EL) to Waverly, EL to Buffalo, and after that did not matter to me.

The 628s would have stayed til BCOL replaced its MLWs. They would have been refurbished by BBD and bought by LV. The C420s would have been replaced by ex CN M420s in the mid 90s. The U23Bs and EMDs would still be there.

Pardon the fantasy.

Scott's next photoshop will be a streamlined NYC Hudson with a Thomas face

I'm figuring that the through traffic from the newly acquired Nickle Plate would allow the continued operation of the Sayre-Buffalo main line. Also traffic to Rochester would increase for some reason I haven't come up with yet (wishful thinking?).

calorosome wrote:Scott's next photoshop will be a streamlined NYC Hudson with a Thomas face

thats scary!

Mr. Lehigh wrote:I'm figuring that the through traffic from the newly acquired Nickle Plate would allow the continued operation of the Sayre-Buffalo main line. Also traffic to Rochester would increase for some reason I haven't come up with yet (wishful thinking?).

the LAL could interchange with the LV Rochester branch at Mortimer Junction. That would keep LV trains running between Rochester Junction and Henrietta, and would give the LAL a third interchange parther.
(assuming CSX and R&S exist in this scenerio)

I cant think of a plausable reason to keep LV trains running up to the Dinosaur BBQ...unless you resumed some kind of canal traffic.

Scot

I have an Alco ad from when the Century series was introduced. No C630 but there is a C624 shown........

Sorry... I made a mistake... the Alco brochure does have the C624 but NOT the C628.

Any way to scan it so we can all see, please? Must look interesting......

CF

Scot,
That C620 looks pretty realistic. Not being overly adept at computing, I am amazed at what can be done. In a way it's kinda scary when you think about it!
Nice job!
To all,
After reading through this thread, I thought I would add my thoughts to the subject of LV what-ifs.
Since the LV had few branches and virtually no congestion issues, and since the railroad had reasonably low grades, I always thought that the LV's best use (either as LV, or under CR), in New York State, would be to use this route as a dedicated high speed intermodal line. West coast to East coast run-throughs.
Perhaps any online freight business could have been contracted to shortlines, or a daily LV peddler freight running between the stack and trailer trains. By lengthening sidings and upgrading signaling, this route probably had enough going for it to handle this kind of point A to point B no-stops kind of operation.
Oh yeah, any road freights left from Pennsylvania businesses would have swung off the main at Waverly, NY, and used the EL (CR?) to Buffalo (or Meadville?)
Obviously this is not completely thought through, but just some general ideas.
BTW, EMD and GE power would dominate, (since Alco was gone). Dash 8's and GP/SD's likely. Alcos sold or traded in.
Any thoughts?