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ALCo in Chicago Heights, IL
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Author:  filmteknik [ Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:25 pm ]
Post subject:  ALCo in Chicago Heights, IL
What did ALCo do in Chicago Heights, IL? I know they had a spring plant and that is actually still in business (http://www.alcospring.com). But I came across a photo from 1944 showing a large boring machine of some sort. Did ALCo do other work there?

Steve
Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: ALCo in Chicago Heights, IL
Do not be quick to assume that just because they have "ALCO" in the name and do soma railroad things that they're related to the Schenectady-based company that expired 42 years ago.

I got a big kick out of the following store in Holbrook, Arizona, junction town of the Apache Railway, one of the last railroads still using second-generation Alco locomotives (for the moment) in real haulage service:

http://www.alcostoresinc.com/locations_ ... tion_id=78

Another outlet is technically the closest store (aside from a gas station and a liquor store) to my in-laws in Arizona. They look at me strangely when I keep asking for models of Alco Century locomotives....
Author:  filmteknik [ Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: ALCo in Chicago Heights, IL
The photo of the heavy machinery was in a history book about the town and referred to it as American Locomotive. So they were definitely there.

But the question of whether today's ALCo Spring is related to "our" ALCo answered by some searching which revealed that ALCo bought a business called Railway Steel Spring. A 1947 Railway Age indicated that at that time the company had these divisions:

Locomotive
Railway Steel Spring
Diesel Engine
Alco Products

And subsidiaries MLW and American Locomotive Export Company.

Steve
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