A trip to Alco land

Living in the Pacific Northwest, Alco locomotives were always something of a foreign concept to a rail photographer. Although in the early Burlington Northern days as well as their predecessor railroads years, Alco's were somewhat usual faire for local railroads. The Spokane Portland and Seattle Railway rostered 10 of the monster C636 Alco locomotives that were used into the BN merger days. These 3600 horsepower monsters patrolled the Columbia River route with long drag freights between Spokane and Portland.

When I became aware of the combination or railroads and photography, the Alcos were long gone in the Northwest and you needed to travel to the San Francisco Belt Line or Arizona's Apache to get your dose of Alco prime movers. That all changed last year when I made my first trek to the land of Alcos of New York and Pennsylvania. I enjoyed that tour so much that I again returned this year to the same region. Armed with a fistful of dog earned maps and a list of an Alco "must see/do", we set out to again discover the magic held in the enginehouses of the Poconos and the Allegeny Mountains.

This years trip included good friends Mike Repp and Dale Skyllingstad, both avid Alco fanatics. What would endure over the next 8 days would be more in depth than the basic overview of the Alcos, but a 1900 mile adventure to capture in digital images and recordings the Beasts of the East.

First stop for us was the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad in Scranton. First morning was the line-up of the train for the NS interchange in Portland, Pa., three big brute 636s. Silent engines rolled to life one at a time. Today's consist would also pick up two additional four-axle Alcos for a total consist of five units for the heavy train to lift over the Pocono Mountains. Several places along the main line, it was a unique sight and sound of an all Alco consist tearing up the grade towards Pocono Summit. We were able to photo the train all the way down to the NS interchange along the Delaware River. Along the way, a dozen or so other photographers appeared as a unique consist was met with sunny skies on a Saturday.

On the return trip, placement was crucial to catch the heavy train climbing up the south slope of the Pocono's. At Cresco, Pa., the steep grade is met with a horseshoe curve requiring more work from the set of units. A great day came to and end with the train coming out of the Nay Aug tunnel which was surprisingly free of the other photographers due to the hike in. From there our trek would take us to the next land of the "Bigs" – Olean, N.Y.

Olean, NY is home to the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad which runs on former Pennsy and Erie lines in western New York and northern Pennsylvania. Like the D-L, the WNY&P rosters several four-axle Alcos, but we were there for the big show and nothing is bigger than  636s on a main line run over the grades of the Allegheny Mountains. During the days there, we were able to catch 636s on local turn trains, maintenance of way trains and finally on the last day there, a trip to Driftwood for the interchange with the NS. The Driftwood Turn would have 3 big 636's for power and we would be ready for the trip up and over Keating Summit on the former Pennsy line.

Keating Summit is the reason the 636s are here. Big power is needed to get over the grade. Topping out in excess of 2.6 percent on the south side, full throttle on all of their units would be needed to head back home after swapping trains at Driftwood. We photographed the train all the way to dark. Instead of breaking off at that point, we chose to sit and experience the train running for the grade, the sounds bouncing and echoing off of the valley walls. At the top we sat, our feet dangling over the side of the 1892 built road bridge over the crest at Keating Summit, while hearing the trio of Alco 251 prime movers slug it out with the steep hill.

The train throttled down under our feet, too dark to capture an image, its audio was recorded for the future. The recorders were still rolling as the engines transitioned from power to dynamic as they tipped over the crest of the grade. What an epic ending to an amazing visit to the WNY&P.

The next two days were met with rain and gloomy skies as we were back to the D-L, working our way back towards our flight back to the Northwest. A damp photo chase on the D-L had us back on a Portland Turn with the same five-Alco set. Wet rail compounded the challenge for the crew that day to lift the train back over the hill. After a few shots and recordings, we called AlcoTrip16 a success.

Looking back, I can now appreciate some of the older photographers that were able to see Alcos in the Northwest. We now know what the draw is. We have been bitten by the Alco bug and are ready to go back again soon.