Alco Century 415

 We were driving along the Great River Road in Quincy, Illinois. In this area the river, highway and railroad tracks all run parallel to each other. I happened to glance down to the tracks and saw a locomotive that I could not identify.

It turns out to be an ALCO C415, #702 (Former SP #2407)

Wikipedia gives the following info on the locomotive 

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.

Adam Burns provides the following further info from his webpage: Link

Alco produced one of the most unique models of the second-generation era with the C415 of 1966. 

It was designed as light road-switcher with maximum visibility (and 1-crewman operation) to fill a need left by increasingly more powerful designs built by EMD and General Electric.

Alas, by this time Alco's credibility as a locomotive builder was dwindling and the model found little success. Additionally, the idea behind the model was somewhat perplexing; Alco attempted to market it as a combination switcher/road switcher.

However, railroads were losing interest in switchers by the mid-1960s opting to save their money (and rightfully so) to employ first generation diesels in secondary, branch, and yard services. 

Due to the C415's poor sales (the locomotive even offered a high cab variant), it's amazing that any of these switchers survive. However, six can still be found in the United States (at least one is operational on short line Burlington Junction as its #702) as well as one in Australia.

C-415 History And Background

The Alco C415, a center-cab design, began production in June, 1966 and offered a staggering 1,500 horsepower for a switcher using Alco's 251F prime mover (the builder's latest, and final, engine design).

While Alco by this point typically sold its locomotives in a standard model, as EMD had been doing for years, the C415 did come with a few options such as differing cab heights for either clearance or increased visibility and two various truck setups (AAR or Alco's Hi-Ad).

Built through the end of Alco's time as a locomotive builder the C415 seemed to epitomize the company's troubles. Just 26 units of the model were sold with the Rock Island and Southern Pacific accounting for 20 of those orders (ten apiece).

For whatever reason, Alco decided that there was still a demand for a switcher model in the latter 1960s even though by that time both General Electric and the Electro-Motive Division were concentrating most of their resources to new road switcher models.

Of course, Alco intended the locomotive to be a dual purpose unit used in yard and main line freight service.

Unfortunately, despite its rugged horsepower rating, improved prime mover, and hefty tractive effort (60,000 pounds starting, 42,000 pounds continuous) railroads were simply no longer interested in such a model considering they had entire fleets of first generation units to perform the very same functions.

Remaining loyal to Alco through the end, the SP and Rock both found multiple uses for their C415s and employed them in a wide range of various tasks.

Additionally, the Chehalis Western, Columbia & Cowlitz, and Monongahela Connecting Railroad all picked up one apiece with the Spokane, Portland & Seattle picking up two (Alco also built one demonstrator, #415, which was eventually sold and shipped to Australian firm Hamersley Iron; the unit remains operational today in that country).

Alco removed the C415 from its catalog by December, 1966 as the builder was simply having no success in remaining competitive with either GE or EMD.  

By that date the company had fixed most of its reliability issues but simply could not earn back the respect of much of the industry. Additionally, Alco wasn't offering anything innovative or revolutionary, merely reacting to models being introduced by EMD and GE.

Alco C415 Data Sheet

Entered Production 7/1966 (Demo #415)

Years Produced 7/1966-12/4/1968

Model Specification DL415

Engine 251D, V-12

Horsepower 1,500

RPM 1,000

Carbody Styling Alco

Length (Between Coupler Pulling Faces) 57' 2.5"

Weight 260,000 Lbs.

Cab Height (Optional) 14' 6"; 15' 5"; 16' 5"

Dynamic Brakes Optional

Trucks B-B

Truck Type Swing Bolster, Drop-Side Equalizer (AAR Type-B)

Truck Wheelbase 9' 4"

Wheel Size 40"

Traction Motors GE 752 (4)

Traction Generator GT581

Steam Generator Optional

Gear Ratio 74:18

Tractive Effort Rating 42,000 Lbs. at 10 MPH.

Top Speed 65 MPH

Total Production Roster Of Alco C415s

Owner Road Number(s) Quantity Date Built

Alco (Demo) 415 (Became Hamersley Iron Ore #008. Shipped to Australia.) 1 7/1966

Chehlais Western Railroad (Weyerhaeuser) 684 1 1968

Columbia & Cowlitz Railway (Weyerhaeuser) 701 1 1968

Monongahela Connecting 701 1 1968

Rock Island 415-424 10 1966

Spokane, Portland & Seattle 100-101 2 1968

Southern Pacific 2400-2409 10 1966

Sources:

Foster, Gerald. A Field Guide To Trains. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

Kirkland, John F. Diesel Builders, The:  Volume Two, American Locomotive Company And Montreal Locomotive Works. Glendale: Interurban Press, 1989.

Pinkepank, Jerry A. Diesel Spotter's Guide.  Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing Company, 1967.

Solomon, Brian. Alco Locomotives. Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2009.

Today, at least six Alco C415s remain in the United States; the Monongahela Connecting's #701 is located at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania while the Chehalis Western #684 is preserved at the Fife History Museum in Fife, Washington. 

Additionally, three others operate on short line Burlington Junction, as noted in the above picture; #21 (SP #2409), #701 (Columbia & Cowlitz #701), and #702 (SP #2407). 

Finally, former Rock Island #424 (once operated as PLM Railcar Maintenance #421) sits derelict on a siding near BNSF Railway's Argentine Yard outside of Kansas City, Kansas.