Passenger FA-2s and FB-2s

[SSW9389]

What are the roadnumbers for the passenger equipped FA-2s and FB-2s?

[Lehighton_Man]

wasnt it somewhere in the upper 500s?
Like 5XX-590?
Thats what i can think of for now.
Cheers.
Sean

[TB Diamond]

Lehigh Valley Railroad Alco FA2 Nos. 590, 592 and 594 were delivered equipped with steam generators. FB2 No. 583 was also equipped with s/g.
I believe that some of the other FB2 units had s/g, but cannot confirm.

[SSW9389]

I've seen a photo in X2200 South that shows an ABA set of these with a passenger train. The units are listed as 594, 583, and 590. Richard Steinbrenner in his Centennial Remembrance on page 304 states that the last A-B-A set was made up of FPA-2s/FPB-2.

[scottychaos]

The LV units were never labeled (by Alco, the LV, or anyone) as FPA's..
They were officially designated as FA-2 and FB-2 units, which happened to have steam generators.

Scot

[Lehighton_Man]

Thanks for the Clarification Scott. I thought those FAs were in the Upper 500s. Looks like it was 580-599 im guessing from the numbers mentioned. I do know that they never had a 600 number assigned because that at first was the PA1 series, and later the Century 628 numbers.
Thanks again.
Sean

[TB Diamond]

Lehighton:

The LVRR Alco FA2 units were numbered 580-588 (even), 590, 592 and 594. The FB2 units were numbered 581, 583, 585 and 587.

Some of these units were equipped with steam generators to serve as backup power on regular passenger trains should enough Alco PA1 units not be available. This did occur from time to time. In addition, they were used on troop trains, many of which operated over the Auburn branch Sayre-Auburn where they were turned over to the New York Central for movement to Camp Drum, near Watetown, NY.

The LVRR Alco PA1 units were numbered 601-614. The Alco C628 units were numbered 625-641, so no C628 had the number of a PA1 which you seem to assume in your post above.

BTW: I believe the passenger train alluded to in the post by SSW9389 above was a NHRS excursion special that operated Buffalo, NY-Sayre, PA on 11 October 1953.

[Lehighton_Man]

Oops, my bad
Thanks for the Correction TB diamond.
Cheers.
Sean

[SSW9389]

Are there builder's photos showing these units with steam generators? Or another question would be what is the earliest dated photo showing these units with steam generator equipment?

Lehigh Valley was a darling of ALCO and the 594 and 583 were used for an experimental installation of the 12-251A engine in May 1954. Work was done at the Sayre Shops see Steinbrenner p. 354.

Lehigh Valley Railroad Alco FA2 Nos. 590, 592 and 594 were delivered equipped with steam generators. FB2 No. 583 was also equipped with s/g.
I believe that some of the other FB2 units had s/g, but cannot confirm.

[Lehighton_Man]

Ah, so the Lehigh did like to experiement with her units. seems like not all FA2s had 244s!!
good to see that the Lehigh did use some experiemental ingeniality.
hah.
Cheers.
Sean

[SSW9389]

I found it very interesting that the 594 and 583 were chosen for this task. Two units with passenger capability would allow testing or demonstrating with a passenger train to develop performance data. The Steinbrenner note states that these units were formerly FPA/FPB's. The paragraph concludes that these units operated into mid-1955 in exhaustive testing and then their 244 engines were reinstalled.

My question would be when were the steam generators removed from these units? And were these units tested with passenger trains during the ALCO 251 engine tests of 1954-1955?

[TB Diamond]

Best that I could come up with is a Withiam duplicate slide of the 594 at Auburn in 1954. Head on shot, so there is no way to tell if it is heading up a passenger (troop) train or not.

The LVRR Alco FA2/FB2 units were delivered as FA units, not FPA units. The freight gearing as delivered is a clue.

[TB Diamond]

Appears that the 592 did not have a steam generator. My bad.

According to a letter from C.L. Wagner, Chief of Personnel, Lehigh Valley Railroad to H.A. McMorran, General Chairman, BofLE and H.W. Riley, General Chairman, BofLF&E dated 11 February 1960, the steam generators were removed from units 583, 587, 590 and 594 on 09 February 1960. The weight on drivers for the 583 went from 257,000 to 241,000 pounds, on the 587 from 257,500 to 241,500 pounds, on the 590 from 257,700 to 242,400 pounds and on the 594 from 258,800 to 243,500 pounds.