ALCO Century 415
Type and origin
Power type	Diesel-electric
Builder	ALCO
Model	Century 415
Build date	1966 – 1968
Total produced	26
Specifications
AAR wheel arr.	B-B
Gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Engine type	ALCO 251-F
Cylinders	8
Performance figures
Power output	1,500 hp (1,100 kW)

The ALCO Century 415 was a diesel-electric locomotive of B-B wheel arrangement produced by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) as part of their Century Series of locomotives.

Specifications

The C415 was a large switcher or small road switcher equipped with a raised cab mounted slightly off-center, with a lower, narrower hood on either side. The longer one contained the diesel engine, a 1,500 hp (1.1 MW) eight-cylinder turbocharged Alco 251-F, while the shorter contained auxiliaries. The C415 could be ordered with three different cab heights; a low one for minimum clearances, a regular height one, and an extra-height one for maximum visibility.

Trucks fitted were either Type B road trucks or ALCO Hi-Ad (high adhesion).

Service history

The locomotive was not that popular; 26 were built between 1966 and 1968 for seven different owners. The locomotive is still in use today. According to the November 2011 issue of Railfan & Railroad magazine, the Burlington Junction Railway now owns two C415s numbered 701 and 702.

Original owners

• Hamersley Iron in Western Australia bought the prototype in May 1968, formerly lettered as ALCO 415. The locomotive was equipped with a medium height cab and AAR Type B trucks.
• Chehalis Western Railroad bought a single high cab unit with Hi-Ad trucks.
• Columbia and Cowlitz Railway bought a single high cab unit with Hi-Ad trucks. (Both the Columbia and Cowlitz and the Chehalis Western are Weyerhaeuser properties)
• Monongahela Connecting Railroad bought a single low cab unit with Hi-Ad trucks.
• Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad bought ten medium cab units with AAR Type B trucks.
• Southern Pacific Railroad bought ten high cab units with Type B road trucks.
• Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway bought two medium cab units with Hi-Ad trucks; these were passed to the Burlington Northern Railroad after a merger between the two railroads.

Preservation

• Southern Pacific Railroad 2406 is in Monterrey, Mexico, lettered as Fundidora Monterrey Steel 25.
• Hamersley Iron 1000, formerly Alco Demonstrator 415 is at the Pilbara Railways Historical Society in Western Australia.
• Monongahela Connecting Railroad 701 is at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
• Chehalis Western Railroad 684 is at Fife History Museum.

See also

• List of ALCO diesel locomotives

ALCO Century Series locomotives

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ALCO_diesel_locomotives

 Morristown & Erie Railway #18 (a C424 built by Alco in 1964), at the Morristown shop complex, 2010.