There's a picture on Ebay of LV No. 142, a baldwin DS-4-4-1000? that was taken in 1973.

I know early Conrail ran its legacy ALCO's until 1980 or so when they started culling the herd of "oddballs" like Baldwins and ALCO's in earnest.

When were the last non EMD/GE's running on Conrail. Any of the oddballs survive the torch?

superheater62@yahoo.com

Superheater,

Here is one "oddball" that survived and is now preserved at our Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum.

Lehigh Valley Railroad #211 is a high short hood ALCO RS-3 and now classed as an RS-3m as it was rebuilt by Conrail with an EMD 567 prime mover, EMD control stand and electricals. #211 was built as PRR#8445 before becoming PRR#5569 then PC#5569 then LV#211 then CR#5487 then CR#9920. It was last used by Conrail in April of 1981 and was still in storage in 1986 when it was acquired by a group of Rochester Chapter NRHS (who owns the R&GV RR Museum) members and donated to the R&GV RR Museum. We have preserved it as LV #211 and it is painted in an LV scheme it wore in service.

The unit is serviceable.

There are several other former Conrail RS-3m's still in existance which would also probably fall into the oddball category although LV#211 is the only existing high short hood "Hammerhead" RS-3. It had that feature to house both dynamic brakes and a steam generator which has since been replaced by Conrail with a LARGE concrete block.

Until later,
Chris Hauf
Manager - Railroad Equipment
R&GV RR Museum



Lehigh Valley Railroad #211 at the R&GV RR Museum

crhauf@frontiernet.net

Although anything can be done with enough money, can anyone say how difficult would it be to undo a DeWitt geep or similar conversion? Lets say you've got the Alco prime mover, and go from there.

Joshua

mail@joshuakblay.com

Woa! A Central NY native like yourself wants to take the DeWitt out of a DeWitt Geep!

;-)

Rob

> Although anything can be done with enough
> money, can anyone say how difficult would it
> be to undo a DeWitt geep or similar
> conversion? Lets say you've got the Alco
> prime mover, and go from there.

> Joshua

> Although anything can be done with enough
> money, can anyone say how difficult would it
> be to undo a DeWitt geep or similar
> conversion? Lets say you've got the Alco
> prime mover, and go from there.

> Joshua

Ditto (many times) that first $tatement! I've never seen the LV unit, but I did get to poke around former CNJ 1548 before she want to Canada, and inspected and bid on one of the Amtrak units (104?) maybe a dozen years ago, so I'll give this a shot, off the top of my head.

Start with a 244H/250 engine (the latest version) with a 581 main generator, aux. gen. and exciter. (A 251 would require the hood to be raised a few inches.) The excitation system would have to be replaced; the choices are amplidyne, static or blue card, depending on how historically accurate you want to be, vs. maintainability.

The electrical cabinet I'm a little fuzzy on. I don't remember whether the RS-3Ms had three power contactors (series to series parallel) like an Alco or EMD switcher, or six contactors (series-parallel to full parallel) like RS-2s and up, and Fs and Geeps and up. The reverser may be reusable, if it is still a road unit reverser. (i.e. the original one). Field shunting and transition control would need looking into- 207, 210?

The RS-3M cooling system is a hybrid, with Alco radiators and EMD fans. The two EMD fans would need to be replaced with a five (?) foot Alco fan, in a new "ring" on top of the hood, and with a right angle drive and eddy current clutch. The clutch would need a shaft to the compressor, coupled to the free end of the engine. A sheave would have to be put on the shaft to drive the front TM blower. (The rear TM blower is gear driven off the main generator).

The EMD oil cooler, oil filter, coolant expansion tank, etc. (EMD calls this the "plumbing stack") may be reusable, and then again it may not- The trucks, with 752 TMs, should be fine. Of course, a pretty extensive rewiring job would also be needed.

As I said, this is off the top of my head, but I think I got all the biggies. I'm sure someone will add something I missed.

Yes, it can be done, but I wouldn't want to see the bill! I suspect it would be cheaper to rebuild in-kind an un-altered RS-3.



edm5970@earthlink.net

Why did nee-CNJ 1548 end up in Canada - how has it fared there? The last time I saw it quite a bit of work was being done to it at Winslow Junction and it was rumored that it would join the Southern Railroad of New Jersey's roster. Was it owned by Joe Pettacio (the owner of the Southern Railroad of New Jersey) or somebody else?



altoonaroundhouse@umich.edu

> Woa! A Central NY native like yourself wants
> to take the DeWitt out of a DeWitt Geep!

There's a certain unit I'd LOVE to do that to but don't enough money to own it, much less convert. One of those "powerball" projects. Oh, and I don't like NYC so don't care much for DeWitt Geeps.

Joshua

> When were the last non EMD/GE's running on
> Conrail. Any of the oddballs survive the
> torch?

Among the oddballs to survive the torch were the Alco Century (C630?) saved by the Reading Co. Tech. & Historical Society; a former CR C636 now (I think) in the hands of the Delaware-Lackawanna by way of Stockton, Ca.; and at least a couple RS3's here and there.


LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

> When were the last non EMD/GE's running on
> Conrail. Any of the oddballs survive the
> torch?

The Midland Railway in Baldwin City, KS has RS-3 NYC 8255 in original configuration. We also have a RS-3m in the form of MKT 142. 16-567 engine block, 1500 horsepower under an EMD long hood.

Both engines were built in June 1951 & their builders numbers are only about 13 numbers apart.

http://www.midland-ry.org

> Any of the oddballs survive the torch?

The last C636 (PC 6792?) still works for a living on the D-L. Prior to arriving there in 2001 it was in Stockton, CA at Delta Bulk Terminal, still wearing Conrail paint.

The Reading Company Technical and Historical Society has C630 5308, C424 5204 and RS3 485.

Other notable survivors are these former LIRR HEP cabs;
NYC1102/PC1302/LIRR600 FA2
NH 0401/PC1330/LIRR618 FA1
NH 0428/PC1333/LIRR617 FA1



gerald_altizer@atlanticbb.net

CR also started with BLW RDG 716 and Ironton 751 (or was it 750) both 1000 HP shifters and a few Baldwins from PRSL including one AS-16. All were retired quickly.

Electric City Trolley Museum Association

1548 was privately owned, not an SRNJ or Joe P. unit. The owner did a nice job of replacing the fan ring and hiding the EMD fans. It made a few test trips to Atlantic City, sat for several years and was sold. I have no idea how it is doing in Canada.

> Why did nee-CNJ 1548 end up in Canada - how
> has it fared there? The last time I saw it
> quite a bit of work was being done to it at
> Winslow Junction and it was rumored that it
> would join the Southern Railroad of New
> Jersey's roster. Was it owned by Joe
> Pettacio (the owner of the Southern Railroad
> of New Jersey) or somebody else?


edm5970@earthlink.net

Unless I'm terribly confused, this is the locomotive purchased by locomotive dealer A. Merilees for resale to the Canada Starch Company in Cardinal, Ontario.

I live just east of Casco's CNR interchange and see their unit quite often. Despite a fresh coat (apparently applied with a roller) of dark blue paint, the unit shows numerous battle scars. My first reaction when it arrived was that they had paid good money for a burnt out piece of junk!

However, despite its rough appearance, the unit is still alive and well, and kept very busy. I heard it performing its chores yesterday.

Steve Hunter,
Cardinal, Ontario

> 1548 was privately owned, not an SRNJ or Joe
> P. unit. The owner did a nice job of
> replacing the fan ring and hiding the EMD
> fans. It made a few test trips to Atlantic
> City, sat for several years and was sold. I
> have no idea how it is doing in Canada.


Smiths Falls Railway Museum
s.c.hunter@sympatico.ca