First, in the era you are speaking of Alco and GE were working together to produce the Alco/GE line of diesels. The main problem Alco/GE had was a lag time before the turbocharger kicked in producing huge plumes of smoke from accumulated gases. There were problems with the 251 engine which were eventually worked out. GE had worked on its own diesel locomotives before joining with Alco and went its own way again after Alco faltered. Early Fairbanks Morese cab units were built by GE at Erie before FM tooled up for the TM series building in Beloit, WI. GE maintained an export product right along and just enlarged it after the Alco break up.
I have heard mixed reactions about EMD vs Alco. The Delaware and Hudson was loyal to its online locomotive builder until the Dereco years. Even then, a token couple of EMD SD45's were quickly swapped out with sister Dereco EL for several GE units. Other roads were equal or 1/3 Alco buyers as EMD flooded the market with pick your need diesels. Some said EMDs were superiour over all but Alco and GE were better luggers at slow speeds. Others didn't care about the slow speed pulling but wanted the high speed handling for freight or passengers. Apparently EMD got up to speed faster but all performed well once up there. I have a feeling there is going to be more personal preferances gleaned from experiences rather than side by side performance charts in these answers.
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overall (George);
Not sure how old you are, but the history of ALCO [American Locomotive Co] is written with a number of interesting stories.
One place to start is the obvious reference to the site at Wikipedia. I know they have some problems, but this report seems to be pretty complete in its details. It is an interesting tale:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Locomotive_Company
My suggestion is to start here and investigate, further with some of the links within. ALCO was very successful, and its demise was, IMHO, as much political as it was quality of their products or corporate decisions. Not to mention the business manoevers ( surrounding its early partnership) with GE, and somewhat with EMD. Its reputaton for quality and dependability took some hits, and helped tarnish its image.
ALCO is still around in areas ( Stationary engines/Marine Engines), and in a number of foreign countries, their products soldier on.
I have heard both good and bad on Alco diesels. I never had very much experience with them growing up in the south. The south was EMD territory for the most part. Were these engines fundamentally flawed or were the shop forces not used to dealing with them? Could it have been that Alco did not support their product as well as EMD and GE did? Was there an effort to get rid of them after Alco went out of bussiness because of a lack of customer support? I have heard that Alcos were better pullers than EMD, but they did not run as fast. Any truth to this?
Thanks in Advance,
George
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