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American Locomotive Company (ALCo) was a designer, builder, and seller of steam locomotives, diesel-electric locomotives, diesel engines, generators, specialty forgings, steel high-quality, armored tanks and cars, as well as producing nuclear power. The American Locomotive Company was created in 1901 by merging the Schenectady Locomotive Engine Manufactory of Schenectady, New York, with seven smaller locomotive manufacturers. The American Locomotive Automobile Company subsidiary designed and manufactured automobiles under the Alco brand from 1905 to 1913, and produced nuclear power from 1954 to 1962. The company changed its name to Alco Products Incorporated in 1955. In 1964 it was purchased by the Worthington Corporation, and entered bankruptcy in 1969.
Foundation and early years
The company was created in 1901 with the merger of seven smaller locomotive manufacturers with the Schenectady Locomotive Engine Manufactory of Schenectady, New York:
- Brooks Locomotive Works by Dunkirk, New York
- Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works by Paterson, New Jersey
- Dickson Manufacturing Company of Scranton, Pennsylvania
- Manchester Locomotive Works by Manchester, New Hampshire
- Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island Locomotive Works by Providence, Rhode Island
- Richmond Locomotive Works by Richmond, Virginia
The new company established its headquarters in Schenectady, New York.
In 1904, the American Locomotive Company acquired control of the Locomotive and Machine Company of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, naming it the Montreal Locomotive Works. In 1905, Alco purchased the Rogers Locomotive Works of Paterson, New Jersey, the second largest manufacturer of locomotives in the United States, after the Baldwin Locomotive Works.
American Locomotive Company operated only the Schenectady and Montreal plants, closing all others.
After the American Locomotive Company ceased manufacturing locomotives in the United States in 1969, the Montreal Locomotive Works continued manufacturing based on Alco's designs.
Steam locomotives
Alco was the second largest steam locomotive manufacturer in the United States (after Baldwin), producing more than 75,000 examples. Among them a good number of well-known locomotives. Among the railroads that favored Alco products were the Delaware and Hudson Railway, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, the New York Central Railroad, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Southern Pacific. Alco was known for its steam locomotives, fine examples being the 4-6-4 Hudson and 4-8-4 Niagara built for the New York Central and the 4-6-6-4 (Challenger) built for the Union Pacific.. Alco also built many of the largest locomotives ever built, including the Union Pacific Big Boy (4-8-8-4).
In addition to the 4-6-2 locomotives of the Delaware & Hudson, which used SKF bearings for the drive wheels and connecting rods in 1924 (the world's first), Alco built the first production steam locomotive in North America to use roller bearings: Timken 1111. A 4-8-4 commissioned in 1930 by the Timken Roller Bearing Company it was used for 100,000 miles on fifteen of America's largest railroads before being purchased in 1933 by the Northern Pacific Railway (the Four Aces was renumbered by the Northern Pacific as No. 2626 and ran on the North Coast Limited, as well as trains between Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, and excursions, until 1957).
During World War II, Alco produced many 2-10-0 Decapods for the USSR. Many of these had not been delivered by the end of the war, and ten units were sold to Finland in 1947. One, Alco numbered No. 75214, is preserved at the Finnish Railway Museum.
Although the 4-8-4 steam locomotives for dual service showed promise, in 1948 the last steam locomotives came out of Schenectady. There were seven 2-8-4 "Berkshires" class A-2a series 9400 for the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad. Its tenders, however, were subcontracted to the Lima Locomotive Works, as Alco's tender plant had been closed and converted to manufacture diesel locomotives.
Joseph Burroughs Ennis (1879-1955) was Vice President from 1917 to 1947 and was responsible for the design of many of the locomotives built.
Cars
In 1906, Alco entered the automobile business, producing the French-designed Berliet automobile under license. Production was at the Rhode Island Locomotive Works plant in Providence, Rhode-Island. Two years later, Alco abandoned the construction of Berliet automobiles to make way for the construction of its own designs. Alco cars won the Vanderbilt Cup in 1909 and 1910, and also competed in the first Indianapolis 500 race in 1911, but not being as successful in sales, they dropped out of automobile manufacturing in 1913. The history of the Alco automobile it is notable because it started the automobile career of Walter P. Chrysler, the plant manager, who left for Buick in 1911 and later founded the Chrysler Corporation in 1925.
Automotive produced by Alco (image 3D anaglifo).
Car Alco from 1912.
American Locomotive Automobile Company - Berliet - 1906.
A Alco winning the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup.
Diesel-electric locomotives
Although Alco was deeply committed to the steam locomotive, it produced the first commercially successful diesel-electric locomotive in 1924, in a consortium with General Electric (electrical equipment) and Ingersoll-Rand (diesel engine). This locomotive was sold to the Central Railroad of New Jersey and subsequent locomotives were sold to various railroads, including the Long Island Railroad and the Chicago and North Western Railway.
In 1929 the company bought the engine manufacturing company "McIntosh & Seymour Diesel Engine Company". From that moment Alco produced its own diesel engines although General Electric continued to be the supplier of electrical equipment. The transition from steam to diesel was largely overseen by Perry T. Egbert, vice president in charge of diesel locomotive sales and later company president. In the 1930s Alco dominated the diesel locomotive market in the United States. United States, but the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors assumed the top spot in locomotive marketing, through aggressive marketing, a supply of development capital to its parent company, and the intervention of the war years. During those troubled years, Alco was assigned to build shunting locomotives, a handful of dual-duty ALCO DL-109 locomotives and their proven steam designs, while EMD was assigned to build mainline freight diesel locomotives. (The production of locomotives for passenger services was banned by the War Production Board). This happened because the revolutionary "Alco RS-1" locomotive, of the "roadswitcher" category, was chosen by the army of said country for vital tasks. ALCO was ranked 34th among corporations valued for war production contracts. The Kriegsmarine flagship, the Tirpitz, and the Luftwaffe were threatening Allied ships carrying supplies to the Soviet Union in the port of Murmansk. from the bases in Norway. This was vital for the USSR. Thanks to the success obtained in Africa by the American army, the United States was able to rehabilitate the trans-Iranian railway and extend it to the USSR, and the model of locomotive they chose for that railway line was the RSD-1, a variant of six axles and six Alco light model traction motors. Not only was the company prohibited from selling them, but all thirteen RS-1s built were requisitioned for Iranian work and converted to RSD-1s. This gave EMD a market advantage that could not be beaten. Another factor was that Alco's diesel locomotives were competing with their own steam locomotive products, whereas EMD had no such overlap. In 1940, Alco and General Electric entered into an alliance to build diesel engines under the Alco-GE name, an agreement that lasted until 1953.
Prior to 1948, Alco owned 40% of the market for diesel locomotives. The PA and FA type units, as well as the ubiquitous S-series (660 and 1,000 hp) and the RS-series (1,000, 1,500, and 1,600 hp) represented Alco in these transitional times. GE took over the production of the traction motors. The complete conversion to diesel locomotives, unfortunately, did not mean that Alco could maintain that production.
However, the company continued to rank second in market sales until General Electric, dissatisfied with the results of its partnership with Alco, entered the business of producing diesel locomotives in 1956 General Electric quickly took second place in the market, and even eclipsed the production of GM-EMD. Despite continuous innovation in its designs (the first AC-DC transmission among others), Alco gradually succumbed to its competition, in which its former ally General Electric played a major role. A new line of "Century" locomotives, including the C630 (the first with AC-DC transmission), the C430 and the C636, the first 3,600 hp (2.7 MW) locomotive, could not keep up with the running company. Third in the market proved to be an impossible position; Alco's products did not have the reputation for reliability of GM-EMD's products, nor did it have customer support or funding from General Electric, and the benefits were not predictable. Alco gradually ceased production of locomotives, delivering the last two, a pair of T-6 pilots, to the Newburgh and South Shore Railroad (#1016 and 1017) in January 1969. Alco closed its Schenectady plant later that year., and sold his designs to the Montreal Locomotive Works of Canada.
ALCO DL-531 or RSD-8.
ALCO DL-540 or RSD-16.
ALCO DL-535 or RSD-39 (Renfe Series 313).
ALCO DL-500S or FPD-9 (Renfe Series 321).
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