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ALCO Century 415

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Power type
  
Diesel-electric

Model
  
Century 415

Total produced
  
26

Builder
  
ALCO

Build date
  
1966 – 1968

AAR wheel arr.
  
B-B

ALCO Century 415

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.

Contents

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 three C415s numbered 21, 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.

    • References

    ALCO Century 415 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA