ALCO S-1 and S-3

ALCO S-1 and S-3
MidContinent Railway #7, an S-1, rests between trains on October 10, 2004.
Power type Diesel-electric
Builder American Locomotive Company, and
Montreal Locomotive Works
Build date S-1: April 1940 – June 1950
S-3: February 1950 – November 1953
Total produced S-1: 550
S-3: 292
AAR wheel arr. B-B
Gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm)
Prime mover Alco 539
Engine type Four-stroke diesel
Aspiration Normally aspirated
Displacement 9,572 cu in (156.86 l)
Cylinders Straight 6
Cylinder size 12+12 × 13 in (318 × 330 mm)
Power output 660 hp (490 kW)
Locale North America, Brazil, United Kingdom

The ALCO S-1 and S-3 were 660 horsepower (490 kW) switcher diesel-electric locomotives produced by ALCO and their Canadian subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). Basically, the two locomotives differed only in trucks, with the S-1 using ALCO's own Blunt trucks, and the S-3 riding on standard AAR type A switcher trucks. The S-1 was built between April 1940 and June 1950, with a total of 540 completed, while the S-3 was constructed between February 1950 and November 1953 (MLW until 1957) with total sales of 292. A modified version, the S-10, was built by MLW only; 13 were built between January and June 1958.

Contents

Identification

The S-1 and S-3 are distinguishable externally from the very similar S-2 and S-4 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) switchers in that they have a smaller exhaust stack with a round base and a smaller radiator shutter area on the nose sides. The S-1/S-3 radiator shutter area is taller than it is wide, while the S-2/S-4 radiator area is wider. The smaller stack is due to the lack of turbocharging.

The S-10 is not externally distinguishable from later Canadian-built S-3 locomotives; it differed mostly in electrical equipment.

Original owners

The S-1 and S-3 models were sold to an extensive list of railroads and industrial operators, as detailed below. Major owners of the S-1 included the New York Central Railroad (NYC), with 71 locomotives; the New Haven with 65 locomotives; the L&N with 45 locomotives; the C&NW, with 29 locomotives; and the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) with 27 locomotives. Major customers for the S-3 included the CP, with 101; the CN, with 49; the NYC, with 43 locomotives; the B&M, with 16; and the PRR, with 13. The MLW S-10 was sold only to the CP.

The totals below include export orders and MLW-built locomotives.

Locomotives built by ALCO

S-1

Railroad Quantity Road numbers Notes
Alameda Belt Line
3
D-1 – D-3
Alco (plant switcher)
1
5
Alco (demonstrator)
1
660
American Steel and Wire
1
2
Ann Arbor Railroad
2
2–3
ARMCO Steel
3
E106–E108
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
2
2303–2304
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
6
223–227, 250
Belt Railway of Chicago
3
304–306
Birmingham Southern Railroad
2
100, 101
Boston and Maine Railroad
10
1163–1172
Broward County Port Authority
1
410
Brunner Mond Corporation
1
2
Canadian Car and Munitions
1
5
Sold to Essex Terminal Railway of Windsor Ontario as #101 in 1946. Sold to Don Hearn Co. in Amherstburg Ontario as #200 in 1988. Still under ownership of Mr. Don Hearn, restoration begun by the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society in 2010. Reportedly the oldest operating diesel under 100T in Canada.
Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil
5
3001–3005
Central of Georgia Railway
2
4, 6
Central Railroad of New Jersey
2
1024, 1025
Champlain Paper and Fibre
1
25
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad
3
103–105
Chicago and North Western Railway
29
1202–1205, 1213, 1223–1229, 1232–1236, 1247–1258
Chicago Great Western Railway
5
11–15
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway
3
56, 57, 69
City of Prineville Railway
1
101
Donner Hanna Coal Company
1
2
Day and Zimmerman (Iowa Army Ammunition Depot)
1
3-100
Defense Plant Corporation
2
DPC25.23, DPC25.24
Delray Connecting Railroad
6
66-70, 72
Des Moines Union Railway
4
1–4
Detroit and Mackinac Railway
1
646
East St. Louis Junction Railroad
1
100
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway
4
213–217
Erie Railroad
16
306–321
Ford Motor Company
4
6601–6604
Great Lakes Steel Corporation
1
32
Green Bay and Western Railroad
1
102
Green Bay and Western—Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad
1
103
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
4
661–664
Inland Steel
7
53, 56, 61, 62, 64–66
Inland Waterways Corporation
1
1
Iowa Transfer Railroad
1
2
John Morrel and Company
1
7
to Association of American Railroads. Preserved at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum
Kansas City Terminal Railway
5
40–44
Lehigh Valley Railroad
1
117
Long Island Rail Road
14
404–408, 413–420, 421
407 Restored and Preserved, in use as a tourist train by CMRR
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
45
16–29, 34–68
Maine Central Railroad
8
953–960
Massena Terminal Railroad
2
8, 9
Minnesota Transfer Railway
5
60–64
Missouri Pacific Railroad
2
9007, 9008
Missouri Pacific — New Orleans and Lower Coast Railroad
3
9013-9015
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway
4
1–4
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México
5
5000-5004
Newburgh and South Shore Railway
7
3–7, 9, 10
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
65
0931–0995
New York New Jersey Rail
3
21-25
21-22- scrapped 2006, 23-24 scrapped 1986, 25 became New York Central 8625 on display in Manhattan
New Jersey, Indiana and Illinois Railroad
1
1
New York Central Railroad
71
590, 685–744, 864–873
renumbered in 811-957 range
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (“Nickel Plate Road”)
1
85
to Norfolk and Western Railway 2085
Northern Pacific Railway
1
131
renumbered 603
Northern Pacific Terminal
5
30–34
30-31 sold to Yreka Western in '63 and renumbered 603-604
Pennsylvania Railroad
27
5661–5670, 5954–5956, 9100–9103, 9237–9246
Point Comfort and Northern Railway
1
5
Port Huron and Detroit Railroad
1
52
Portland Terminal CompanyMaine
4
1005-1008
Procter & Gamble
1
9
Preserved by the Whitewater Valley RR, Connersville, IN, as NYC 9339
Pullman Railroad
2
20, 21
Reading Company
5
50-54
Red River Ordnance Depot
1
7372
Preserved by the Feather River Rail Society, Portola, California
Republic Steel
9
15–17, 312–314, D840, D841, D810
River Terminal Railway
1
52
St. Louis and O'Fallon Railway
1
51
Seaboard Air Line
1
1201
to Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
Sheffield Steel Corporation
3
11–13
Solvay Processing Division, Allied Chemical
2
1, 3
South Buffalo Railway
4
51, 52, 60, 61
Southern Pacific Company
4
1017–1020
Southern Railway
3
2000, 2001, 2006
Southern Railway — Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway
2
6000–6001
Southern Railway — Alabama Great Southern Railroad
2
6501–6502
South Omaha Terminal Railway
5
1–5
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway
2
10, 11
10 to City of Prineville 11 to BN
Steel Company of Wales (UK)
5
801–805
please see UK locomotives below
Studebaker
2
2, 3
Tennessee Central Railway
1
51
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
3
700–702
Tennessee Copper
2
104, 105
Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis
4
521–524
Texas and New Orleans Railroad
1
10
to Southern Pacific
Texaco
1
19
Texas City Terminal Railway
2
30, 31
Texas Pacific-Missouri Pacific Terminal Railroad of New Orleans
2
3, 4
Timken Rolling Bearing Company
2
5911, 5912
Toledo, Angola and Western Railway
1
101
Traux Truer Coal
1
10
Union Railroad
4
451–454
Upper Merion and Plymouth Railroad
1
54
U.S. Army
3
7142, 7459, 7460
U.S. War Department
11
1001–1002, 7132-7136, 7141, 7374–7375, GT-1304
Wabash Railroad
9
151–159
Weirton Steel
3
200, 203, 204
Western Maryland Railway
1
102
Western Pacific Railroad
8
504–511
Youngstown Sheet and Tube
5
661–665
Total 550

S-3

Railroad Quantity Road numbers Notes
Aluminum Company of America
1
8
Ann Arbor Railroad
4
4–7
Boston and Maine Railroad
16
1173–1188
Brooks and Scanlon
2
101, 102
Champion Paper
1
2104
Chicago and North Western Railway
6
1262–1267
Davenport, Rock Island and North Western Railway
7
1–7
Davidson Chemical Division, W.R. Grace and Company
1
101
El Dorado and Wesson Railway
1
18
Ford Motor Company
7
6605–6611
Frederick Snare Corporation
1
7
General Portland Cement
1
1
Graysonia, Nashville and Ashdown Railroad
1
51
Greater Portland Public Development Corporation
1
661
Humble Oil
1
997
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
7
69–75
Maine Central Railroad
2
961, 962
Manistique and Lake Superior Railroad
1
1
Mount Hood Railroad
1
50
New York Central Railroad
43
874–916
renumbered into 9300s and 9400s
Pennsylvania Railroad
13
8873–8885
Solvay Processing Division, Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation
1
2
Southern Pacific Company
10
1023–1032
Swift and Company
1
664
Texas and Northern Railway
2
3, 4
Texas City Terminal Railway
1
32
Texaco
2
21, 22
Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway
1
30
West Pittston and Exeter Railway
1
6
Total 137

Locomotives built by Montreal Locomotive Works

S-3

Railroad Quantity Road numbers Notes
Montreal Locomotive Works (demonstrator)
1
CP7004 to Price Brothers 106
Bathhurst Power and Paper
1
3
Canadian Arsenals
1
1
Canadian National Railway
49
8450–8498
Canadian Pacific Railway
101
6500–6600
Essex Terminal Railway
1
103
LaSalle Coke
1
4
National Harbours Board
8
D2–D9
Total 163

S-10

Railroad Quantity Road numbers Notes
Canadian Pacific Railway
13
6601–6613

Survivors

Quite a few S1s still survive in operation with shortline railroads in the United States. Several more are preserved at US railroad museums.

The Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad in Stockton, California still uses an S1, although the locomotive, former Western Pacific 505, is now considered a back-up to the railroad's primary locomotives.

Three S1s are preserved at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola, California: Western Pacific locos 504 and 506 and a former U. S. Army locomotive painted to represent a Western Pacific locomotive.

The former Procter & Gamble #9, repainted as NYC 9339, is, as of 2008, in regular use on the Whitewater Valley RR in Connersville, IN.

The former Hutchinson & Northern S-1 #4 is currently (2009) in operation in excursion service on the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad in Abilene, KS.

A Canadian S3 has been restored to original condition and is on display at the Saskatchewan Railway Museum.

The Alexander Railroad headquartered in Taylorsville, North Carolina operates 2 S3's, numbers #6 and #7.

The former LIRR/SIRT 407 is currently in operation on the Catskill Mountain Railroad as CMRR #407.

USAX 7177 is preserved at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, Utah. This locomotive was assigned to Hill Air Force Base before retirement.

United Kingdom

Of the locos that were shipped to the UK for use by the Steel Company of Wales at Margam the current position is:

801

801 was bought for preservation from European Metal Recycling,[1] Kingsbury, Warwickshire by Northumbria Rail Ltd.[2] and was moved to Longhoughton Goods Yard where restoration is taking place with assistance from members of The UK ALCo Group.[3] It was the first UK ALCo to be restarted and moved under its own power and it will eventually see use on the Aln Valley Railway.

802

802 was scrapped.

803

803 is recorded as a long term restoration project. It is currently owned by The American Railroad Centre in the UK and is stored temporarily at the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway in Oxfordshire.

804

804 is currently under overhaul at Railworld in Peterborough UK, again with assistance from members of The UK ALCo Group. 804 was started up for the first time since 1985 on the 4th July 2009.[4] Work is also being carried out on 804 to restore the locomotive to her correct livery by April 2010.

805

805 was supposedly sent for preservation but no further details are known and it is assumed now scrapped.

References