Alco 244 Engine Parts Wear Limit Documentation

PCook · **Joined:** Sat Jul 02, 2005 7:16 am **Posts:** 2129

Thanks to a former Alco Service Manager I have recently posted to the Heritage Rail Allliance (HRA) technical library a copy of Alco Bulletin HB-13 which lists more that thirty pages of maximum allowable service wear and salvage limits for many 244 engine parts. With new parts now very difficult to locate, this is potentially a very helpful document for preservationists working on these engines.

PC

AlcoC420 · **Joined:** Wed Dec 15, 2010 8:17 pm **Posts:** 270

You are posting some great info to that site, but what if you are not a member of the Heritage Rail Alliance?

EJ Berry · **Posted:** Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:39 pm

If you need the information on the site, your organisation should become a member of HRA.

https://heritagerail.org/why-join/

Phil Mulligan

PCook · **Joined:** Sat Jul 02, 2005 7:16 am **Posts:** 2129

Answering the question about access: With the very complex copyright rules nowadays, even for some printed materials that were not originally identified as copyrighted, about the only place to share historic technical papers is through a membership 501C3 non-profit organization with an educational mission. If a museum is a member of HRA, then the members should be able to obtain access through the person at their organization that manages the membership. If they are not a member, and have operating equipment, perhaps they believe they have the local technical resources to go it alone. Maybe they should be asked whether they are preserving this kind of information.

That being said, it is sadly almost a certainty that someone will eventually abuse the sharing privilege and ruin it for everyone else. That has happened with many other situations where I have seen information shared on the internet. Somebody will steal it, package it, charge for it, and then the people who are contributing to the effort will cease to share their information.

It is unfortunate that more manufacturers do not share their publications relating to out of date products more freely. Once they are no longer building or supporting the equipment, they really have nothing to lose by people sharing information to maintain the surviving products. But I worked in this industry for 50 years and some organizations tend to jealously guard things until the day that some manager says "Why is that old stuff still here?", and then it gets unceremoniously dumped in the trash. I saw that happen over the decades to everything from crates of new instruction manuals and parts books, to complete display engines used in trade shows and the training centers.

PC