Randy Stahl wrote: mudchicken wrote:...When they worked... (as in the Demo units failed much too often)I watched them many times on the ore trains into Escanaba and they were impressive !!!
mudchicken wrote:...When they worked... (as in the Demo units failed much too often)
I watched them many times on the ore trains into Escanaba and they were impressive !!!
Whenever we could in the early 70's, we would try to snag 628's and 630's as helpers West over Siskiyou or road power East to Eugene. We had 4 long 1.8% grades that limited 40's and 45's to 4250 ton singles, but with 628's we could often get 4700 ton singles East. Same thing going West except that the 3.3% between Ashland and Black Butte changes the numbers.
Power management folks didn't like using them on the Siskiyou because with the asymetrical axel spacing on the trucks, they caused alignment problems for Mudchickens on rail less than 115 lbs - of which the Siskiyou had an abundance!
But towards the end of their assignments Roseville and North, when on the Oregon Division, they tended to gravitate to the "Seagul" schedules (Eugene-Roseburg) and Cascade helpers
But, as Randy states, IMPRESSIVE performance. From I-5 over Divide Hill and Rice Hill, you could watch the ascents both East and West. Spectacular.
Pain in the sitdown to maintain.
When speeds dropped down close to minimum-continuous, a 40 or 45 could not hold a candle to a 628.
The D&H did pretty well with them. They had a lot of Alco experience and Colony shops did well keeping them going.
Here's a trio of them from the good old days.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=13186
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Espee got a few good years from its 29 C628s. The units spent their early years working in California, on the Overland, and up to Oregon. At some point in 1970 they were leased out to power short BN. After return from BN they were not in good condition and had to be shopped. This was done in Southern California, they worked around there for a bit and then off to Texas. A number of the units were leased to power short L&N in the early 70s. It was reported in X2200 South that 60% or the C628s needed to have major repairs by early 1972. By the May/June issue of X2200 there were 27 C628 and C630s out of service at Houston and an additional five out of service at San Antonio. Two big Centuries were being tried in yard service and hump service at Houston and San Antonio. And that is what saved them. The big Centuries made for good switchers and hump units. Two of the SP C628s were converted to slugs in 1973 and the remaining 27 were rebuilt at the Houston Shops between October 1972 and November 1974. The units were all off the Espee roster by the early 1980s.
Cris_261 wrote: And one more question comes to mind: how did the C628s that SP bought perform for that road?
And one more question comes to mind: how did the C628s that SP bought perform for that road?
The C628 demos must have worked well enough at the time when N&W ordered 30 of the beasts. Or did Alco make N&W an offer they couldn't refuse, and later it was a decision the railroad came to regret, resulting in N&W unloading them on to the C&NW?
According to the book "The American Diesel Locomotive" Arthur Roberts., 1973 (out of print)
The C628 was equipped with a 16 cylinder 251 series diesel.
Horespower was rated at 2,750.
Traction Motors were General Electric 752.
Fuel tank: 4,000 gallons.
Factory gearing allowed up to 80 mph operation.
For that time period, that's respectable muscle!
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
Was the 251c prime mover in the Alco C628s a 12 cylinder engine or a 16 cylinder engine?
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