I believe he's referring to the MOT in St. Louis. There is an FT in that collection.

1. Is the PA-B still in Canada?
2. Aside from not being original to the unit, do the Blomberg trucks present an operating or safety issue if an owner wanted to display (or operate?) an A-B set?

Thank you from the back row of Alco Diesels 101 class.

Wesley

Last time I went looking for pictures of the Mexican B unit, it looked derelict. I doubt firing it up is anywhere close to being an option without a lot of work and money.

I recall a Trains news picture circa 1995 of the ex-NP A unit after being restored to operation, with the caption saying that the matching B unit had contributed parts to the restoration.

You fellas might be right, I haven't been to Mexico since 2008.

One thing I CAN say for sure is that the D&RGW used an ALCO PB carbody with Blomberg trucks and a steam generator for a heater car on the Zephyr.

Doyle McCormick purchased three sets of very similar GSC trucks from old FM Erie builts used at a steel mill in Canada, one pair went under his ex-Santa Fe "Nickel Plate" painted PA, one set is under the Santa Fe PA in Texas, but the other set was left behind and scrapped when the now ORHC equipment was moved from Albany to Portland. However, if anyone wants to restore the PB, Australian Alco units used similar trucks and there are apparently some extra trucks sitting around in Australia.

Does anyone know if the FTB still exists? Also when it was in Benjamin Hill it was with the SBC rail car ex Tonopah and Tidewater 99 I have been trying without success to find out if it still exists

Interesting to see a S100 0-6-0T sans tanks also in their collection.

I stand corrected. After asking around, this news was sent to me by Sr Jonathan Rodriguez:

The SBC FTB is mostly likely 99% Scrapped by now the last known photo I have seen was in 2009 at Benjamin Hill, Sonora. I was there in 2017 and no FTB was at the Shops.
the Shops have all been dismantled
There was a rumor it was transported to Empalme but I cannot confirm this, there is currently no FTB at Empalme. I only hope it is hiding somewhere

If anyone can give better information that would be Great!

What gauge, though?

The one pictured - NSWGR 4472 - Is standard gauge. Hadn't realised that one was preserved as I photographed that in Brisbane, QLD, 30 years ago.....

Thanks to Cs. Emmanuel de la Vega González for this link, showing more of the operations of the FT (without B unit) and the PA in the Puebla museum:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR0h ... JEZHkQaUnk

The PB that "got away", IMHO, was D&RGW steam generator #252, which hung around the Burnham shops complete with its original trucks until 1993 or so when Southern Pacific quietly scrapped it.

Here's what the ex-PB steam/HEP generator looked like during its last years in service up in northern Ontario, I don't know if it's been used since the Soo-Hearst passenger train was discontinued as the regular power for the Agawa Canyon train is a trio of ex-Amtrak F40s, which of course make their own HEP.

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=3806408

The two roof cages (radiator housings?) are rather distinctive and give it away in the yard, it can be found on both the 2017 and 2020 Google Earth images of the Sault Ste Marie yard, just south of the shop buildings. It's in the same location in both shots, so may not have moved for several years.

CN has just sold this part of the former Algoma Central to Watco, it will be interesting to see exactly how much equipment was included in the sale and what the new owner retains.

Sr Jonathan Rodriguez has prepared a wonderful, illustrated roster of Sonora Baja California power, and posted it in both English and Spanish. This has all the gruesome details about the FTB unit: http://mexlist.com/pgr/sbc-en.pdf