Athearn U33-b

Triplex

Active Member
And, while RailPower (the Green Goat people) is a Canadian company, they partnered with Super Steel in Schenectady (the old ALCo plant) to build their hybrids there.
Not all of them, anyway. Weren't some built right here at Alyth?
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
While the "U-boats" were technically second generation diesels since they were built at the same time as the second generation offerings from Alco and EMD, they were the first road diesels produced by GE. In fact it was the the Uboats that killed off Alco. Alco was using GE electrical components in their locomotives from the beginning of their diesel production. When GE came out with their own line of diesels to compete with EMD & Alco, the cost of the electrical systems to Alco compared to GE's cost priced Alco out of competition. I would guess that the lack of a plant in Canada combined with the import duties for locomotives imported to Canada is probably why the Montreal Locomotive Works continued to build Alcos long after Alco had ceased production in the US.
 

Triplex

Active Member
In fact it was the the Uboats that killed off Alco. Alco was using GE electrical components in their locomotives from the beginning of their diesel production. When GE came out with their own line of diesels to compete with EMD & Alco, the cost of the electrical systems to Alco compared to GE's cost priced Alco out of competition.
Interestingly, though U-boats had a longer life expectancy on Class 1s than Centuries, the Centuries have better odds of surviving to the present on shortlines. In fact, many early U-boats were used as parts sources by Alco-using roads. There are no U25Bs, for example, left in regular service... there are a good number of C424s and C425s.
 
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