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Re:RE: (erielack) GE vs. EMD (was: ALCO plant farewell)

Well, let's see . . .

The December RAILPACE shows old "Awful ALCos" running on LAL, CCV, OSR, VRR, BSR, WCRR . . .

and, as I recall, most of what happens east of Scranton to the Delaware is under ALCo smoke . . .

Randy Brown
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 > I have heard that ALCO had trouble with their 244's. The 251  was an 
>improvement. ALCO's were good (relatively) on fuel and ALCO's were good pullers. 
 
The 244 has several issues due to its rapid development during WWII. Broken crankshafts were a common problem, and it's always surprised me that the EL (and many other Eastern railroads) were able to keep their RS3s running as long as they did (of course, bankruptcy and lack of cash flow probably had something to do with that!)
 
The 251 was a vast improvement, and to this day is still a very maintainable prime mover. Alco's biggest problem was (as some have mentioned) competition against a better product from both EMD and GE, and FINANCING. Both GE and GM had much better financing options for selling their product (and that still holds true today)
 
    - Paul


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