I have heard that cylinder head gaskets are available for Alco 539 engines, but have been unable to find out who manufactures/sells them. Does anyone have any experience using a gasket to correct cylinder head leakage, or is it better to restore the mating surfaces through lapping, etc.?

I havent dealt with 539 a whole lot, but I believe that the head to liner mating surface is lapped. There may however be a aftermarket gasket for these, and the people most likely to have such a thing is Canada Allied Diesel. They primarily deal with ALCO and EMD products, and usually have hard to find parts, and if they dont have them they will work hard to find them. Search for them on the web, their website has contact information. They have been extremely helpful to me every time I have worked with them, and I highly recommend them.

I had to repair a former Delray Connecting S-1 that had these gaskets, I bought the gaskets from Silcott Railway Equipment 614-885-7224, but that was a few years ago.

B. Allan