Alco RS2

[SFbrkmn]

Yrs ago, one of the members in our NRHS gang purchased a new car and was a big Alco fan. Looking at his new ride, I noticed he had a custom license tag reading ALCORSI. I did not know of who this dude was nor what the tag meant. Looked at it again and bingo, I figured it out--Alco RS 1. Duh.

[wjstix]

From a trainspotting/modelling point of the view the biggest difference in appearance was the cab roof. RS-1's had an overhanging roof on the front and back, the RS-2 and RS-3 cab didn't have the overhang. The RS-1's body was also a little 'squarer', later RS units were more rounded on the corners.

RS-1:

RS-3:

 

[SSW9389]

This link is to Don Strack's Utah Rails website. The linked article is a doctoral dissertation and covers the different corporate cultures of Alco and EMD.

http://utahrails.net/articles/alco-v-emd.php

 

Another source of information on Alco is Richard Steinbrenner's Alco A Centennial Remembrance which I believe a second edition is out now. Steinbrenner goes into a lot of detail about Alco's roadswitchers, engines, corporate culture, the whole nine yards in one heavy book.  

 

Ed

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The RS1 was similar to the S2 but was lengthened and was equipped with road trucks.  It was rated at 1000 HP and had a 539 engine.

The RS2 was rated at 1500 HP and had a 244 engine.  The RS2 predated the GP7 but there were problems with the amplidyne control system.

[SSW9389]

upjake: The first EMD Geep, the GP7 was a direct response to Alco, Baldwin, and Fairbanks-Morse roadswitchers. All three of those builders were selling something that EMD did not at the time have. EMD's earlier roadswitchers like the NW5 and BL2 were not marketing successes. EMD went a step further in opening a second manufacturing plant in Cleveland, Ohio from 1949-1954 to add locomotive manufacturing capacity. Many GP7s were built at Cleveland. EMD's aim was market dominance and it did so with product, manufacturing capacity and service.

Even though Alco was first with the roadswitcher it could not match EMD in manufacturing capacity or service. The Alco RS-2 and RS-3 used the model 244 engine that was rushed into production in early 1946 without sufficient testing. The flaws in the 244 engine took time to figure out and fix.  Alco's reputation suffered because of this. The main electrical supplier to Alco was GE. GE removed itself from a marketing partnership with Alco in October 1953, but remained as a supplier. I'll post a link here to an article on Don Strack's website that goes into this in a lot more detail.

 

Ed

  

 

upjake

I was just reading the earlier post about RS3s so it got me wondering. What year did Alco introduce the RS-2? What distinguished it from the original RS-1? Also I know it had a lot to do with marketing and EMD's dominance, but was there an operating or cost reason why most roads globbed onto the later EMD geeps instead of buying up earlier produced Alco road switchers?

[rogruth]

 The RS-1 was built from 3/41 until 3/60.

The RS-2 was built from 10/46 until 5/50.

The RS-3 was built from 5/50 until 8/56.

Info from "Diesel Locomotives:The First 50 Years" byL.A.Marre,published by Kalmbach 1995.

I can't answer the other questions but I think this has been covered in "Trains" and other mags.

[upjake]

I was just reading the earlier post about RS3s so it got me wondering. What year did Alco introduce the RS-2? What distinguished it from the original RS-1? Also I know it had a lot to do with marketing and EMD's dominance, but was there an operating or cost reason why most roads globbed onto the later EMD geeps instead of buying up earlier produced Alco road switchers?