I must say, Im jealous of this project! Keeping in mind jealousy is the greatest form of flattery. My first thought also turned to mating it with ex: WM 304, but if this is indeed a Reading cab I personally would very much like to see it returned to it's original colors. If Im correct I believe that RDG 301 had a unique logo on the nose and the cab was replaced due too a wreck at some point in it's history. Maybe this has something to do with why it's in this ladies back yard? What else is she hiding back there?

There is a very nicely sectioned Alco 244 on display already in New York State, at the New York Museum of Transportation in Rush:

http://tugboatenthusiastsociety.org/Pag ... arious.htm

I doubt the museum there would care to give it up, but it shows how to section an engine very nicely.

PC

Photos and captions from the Alco Heritage Museum site, artifacts page:

http://www.alcoheritagemuseum.org/FA1_Woods.JPG

"This ALCO locomotive cab, Reading #301 was delivered to the Museum on 12/28/11. Special thanks to Marc Pollard for delivering the cab to the Museum."

http://www.alcoheritagemuseum.org/FA1_Museum.JPG

"Special thanks to Dorothy Friedlander for donating the cab to the Museum."

Well, we still don't know how it got there, who put it there, etc.--wonder if we'll ever know?

ALL 12 of the Reading's FA-1s were traded to Alco for ten C-424s. The two "extra" units were used as trade ins for the first two of Lehigh & Hudson River's C-420s.

A great illustration of these units going back to their maker is found in Morning Sun's "Trackside With Mr. Alco, George W. Hockaday". An under-appreciated book loaded with some great vintage Alco photography.

Can we lose the ALCo thing? (I notice Mr. Cook doesn't use it) The company didn't identify itself this way, but some "clever" railfan author came up with it , and it keeps rearing its ugly head. If you want to do it right, I believe that A.L.Co. would be more correct.

American Locomotive Company used the term ALCO and Alco in their trade ads as early as the turn of the century.http://www.amazon.com/1911-Locomotive-Touring-Vanderbilt-Workmanship/dp/B005DGZ8WQ
and continued to use it right up to the end of locomotive production.
Mike Tillger

> Now, match it up with the frame of ex-WM 304,

NOW, WAIT JUST A MINUTE THERE, RICHARD!!!

(just kidding)

Happy New Year to all, and congrats to the new group on getting the cab.

Alco like many companies in the past and present used different names or variations of their names in marketing strategies. Just like at one time it was "Alco GE". The GE was dropped after the splitting of the two companies marketing efforts. Alco still used GE electrical systems, but did not use the "GE" trademark.

The "A" was capitalized and the "lco" was small letters, but all the letters were styled/scripted. This is done on the front of maintenance manuals.

I have before me a builders plate from a diesel engine. It has ALCO in a square above ALCO POWER INC.

What is right can be debated forever, it just depends on the time period you want to make reference to.

On a few occasions they used "alco" (all lower case letters) in their advertising and brochures, specific example being use on the front and back covers of product catalog AL-3 which just happened to be out on the desk as I was typing this (a catalog that lists their very large diesel engines, and industrial products). But as geep392 points out, I have not encountered any examples of them using "ALCo" with a lower case letter "o" in any commercial publication.

PC

What? You never heard of "Western Reading"? How about "Reading Maryland"?
Of course you got my point. I know Oyster Bay Rail Road Museum is not interested in mating their NH FA1 cab with the 3100 generator car, so why not try with this cab? It would be quite an effort to make it all come out correctly, but I would hate to see either artifact lost lost when they could be compatibly matched.

I find it rewarding that people are (at least) thinking about possibilities.

While perhaps just a rusted FA nose, this does renew the hope that other rare items may still be hiding out there...in a barn, or in a backyard, etc.

Stephen

Just to point out/clarify: That's six cab FA-1's and six booster FB-1's. It's amazing how many folks forget about the B-units these days.

When you include the range of "educational" displays that locomotive builders and railroads used for training purposes, the variety of stuff that is sitting out there would absolutely astound many people. The best place to see it is on eBay. Everything from steam "instructors" (the models representing steam locomotive machinery, dozens of varieties of them), to sectioned air brake and fuel injection equipment, desk models and promotional items, etc. I like to record with "print screen" and keep images of some of the auction items just for reference as to what is out there. Unfortunately relatively little of it makes its way into museums.

PC

Can't do - RDG 301 was from an FA1, WM 304 was an FA2. Yes, you could put it together but it wouldn't be correct for anything......
There is a significant difference in length and style of numberboard.

It was RDG #305 that was involved in a wreck and repainted with a different nose stripe pattern (like Great Northern). #301 was standard Reading.
I wonder why the roof was cut open? and how did it get to this ladies yard and when?

Looks like the scrapper torched the roof out to do a vertical lift of the control stand, which was a pretty heavy structure in these locomotives (and a patented Ray Patten styling feature). The television channel coverage shows the control stand is not in the cab.

I notice on the website that the museum plans on initiating an oral history program to document the stories of surviving Alco employees. That is very commendable, it is good to see someone is trying to do that.

PC