I have NO commercial connection with this venture.I am only passing the information along.

There is a possibility that a vendor will be able to supply brand-new cylinder liners for the Alco 244 engine. A minimum order of 50 (fifty) is required for production. No other information is available at this time.

If your organization is interested in purchasing liners, please reply to this message with the following information:

Organization Name
Contact Person (Decision Maker)
Contact Phone
Contact Email
Projected Purchase Quantity

In turn, I will forward this information to the supplier for follow-up.

Thanks

Dave

Is no one here the least bit interested in this? Have 244-powered locomotives become so far off the radar?

The possibility of these becoming available is huge; let's not let it die for lack of interest.

Howard P.

I don't have a 244, but I have a 2-6-2 that will need cylinder liners....so I'm wondering if the firm that is casting these can centrifugally cast a plain cast iron cylinder? Backchannel welcome about who to contact with that inquiry.

dave

I would wager that the majority of respondents did so via PM. I know I did.

Possibly, and maybe.

I've recently, via other channels, received word of a couple 244 Alcos being scrapped, and a few more in danger, because of serious lack of use for them and/or money for repairs in a dour economy. One supposedly had a cracked block and was quoted $7,000 to weld a repair. A few of the 244 locos I know of are seemingly doomed not just for a lack of utility or parts, but even a way to ship them on friction bearings. Some were mentioned here previously.

In addition, I suspect that the few places that *might* have a good use for such cylinder liners--the Delaware-Lackawanna, Arkansas & Missouri, etc.--simply don't know about this forum, or only lurk here at best.

Or, hopefully, a bunch of places submitted quantities back-channel and not publicly.

I'm sure some of the D-L guys are on this forum; the possibility of having some new 244 liners made up came from D-L's CMO, in fact. Dave is merely trying to spread the word. The A&M does not have any Alco 244s, all of their units are either 251 powered or have (alas) 710s.

For us armchair wannabee diesel mechanics, is the liner just the inner part of a power assembly or does the 244 not use PA's with their own water jackets and instead floods the entire area outside?

Steve

Okay, A&M RS1 22 is now at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, having arrived there ten years or so ago; what about 20, former Rutland 400 (1st)?

I was under the impression that 20 had been sold, but could be mistaken. However, the RS-1s had 539s, not 244s, so I doubt A&M would be interested in 244 liners.

I would like to see someting in regards to pricing as well as to who is going to make them. Does the company have any liner experience?
Will they be produced as cast liners or chrome?

Someone to make the water jackets for the 244 is just as important as the cylinder liners, so maybe they could also cast the water jackets and spread the cost out more.

Organizations still operating 244 engines should give this some thought. The longer since the engine and technology have passed, the higher the price gets. Anybody recall the trouble that one restoration project had trying to reverse engineer and manufacture just eight cylinder liners for a Winton 201A engine, years after the supply from CDED, EMD and then H&K had dried up? And buying only enough reciprocating parts for one overhaul is rolling the dice that one cylinder will not require replacement, in which case your entire investment is down the drain if the first one that fails puts the engine out of service and there are no spares available.

PC

FWIW, my inquiry was an exercise in ,what the sales types call, 'prospecting.' Or, to put it another way, the first steps in the sales process. The sales leads were to be passed on to the vendor for 'qualification', or vetting.

There can't be any discussion of price until the vendor decides what the minimum order will be to the manufacturer so that the vendor can make a suitable profit.

I don't think the vendor is going to be willing to discuss any details involving whoever the manufacturer may be. That isn't 'the way things are done.'

On the Alco 244, the block is dry-devoid of any cooling water. The water jacket fits into the block-with the liner fitting into the water jacket. There are a number of o-rings on the liner that forms the space where the water resides.

How would setting up the production of the water jacket make the liner any less expensive ?

Dave

"There can't be any discussion of price until the vendor decides what the minimum order will be to the manufacturer so that the vendor can make a suitable profit."

You have already said that the minimum order was 50 liners. I can not believe that some who is looking to produe 50 liners has no price idea.


"I don't think the vendor is going to be willing to discuss any details involving whoever the manufacturer may be. That isn't 'the way things are done.'"

There is junk being made out there and I sure will not put any money out for an order not knowing who is making it.

"On the Alco 244, the block is dry-devoid of any cooling water. The water jacket fits into the block-with the liner fitting into the water jacket. There are a number of o-rings on the liner that forms the space where the water resides."

I am well aware of how a 244 is made and operates. I currently own one Alco locomotive which is 251 powered and have a very large inventory of 244 parts as well. Liners can be rechromed, but when the water jackets crack, they are done, no repair to them. I have more concern about getting water jackets then cylinder liners.

"How would setting up the production of the water jacket make the liner any less expensive ?"

I sell parts. It is very simple, purchase more parts, get a better deal. Producing water jackets, even though another casting will increase someone's profits. That is what it is all about.

Dave[/quote]

<EmilyLitella>

NEVER MI-I-I-I-I-ND!!!!

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