ALCO PA - Background and Development

Background and Development

The PAs, as well as their cousins, the ALCO FAs, were born as a result of Alco's development of a new diesel engine design, the Model 244. In early 1944, development started on the new design, and by November 1945, the first engines were beginning to undergo tests. This unusually short testing sequence was brought about by the decision of Alco's senior management that the engine and an associated line of road locomotives had to be introduced no later than the end of 1946. In preparation for this deadline, by January 1946, the first 16 cylinder 244 engines were being tested, and while a strike delayed work on the locomotives, the first two PA units were released for road tests in June 1946, for testing for one month on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. After these first tests were completed, the locomotives returned to the factory for refurbishment and engine replacement. In September 1946, the first production units, an A-B-A set of PA1s in Santa Fe colors were released from the factory, and sent to New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which had a private railroad siding, for exhibition before being launched into road service.

Read more about this topic:  ALCO PA

Famous quotes containing the words background and, background and/or development:

    ... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.
    Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)

    ... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.
    Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)

    Somehow we have been taught to believe that the experiences of girls and women are not important in the study and understanding of human behavior. If we know men, then we know all of humankind. These prevalent cultural attitudes totally deny the uniqueness of the female experience, limiting the development of girls and women and depriving a needy world of the gifts, talents, and resources our daughters have to offer.
    Jeanne Elium (20th century)