ALCO PA - Surviving Examples

Surviving Examples

Five PA units survive.

One is from the order of three broad gauge units sold to Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro in Brazil.

Four (#16-#19) are of the ex-Santa Fe group of locomotives purchased by the Delaware & Hudson in 1967. In 1974-1975, these four units were rebuilt for the D&H by Morrison-Knudsen and equipped with ALCO 251V12 engines. During this rebuilding the units were given the designation PA-4 by MK. These locomotives were later sold to Mexico.

Of the D&H units, two are in the United States, #16 and #18. These units returned to the U.S. in 2000 after years of storage at Empalme, Sonora, Mexico. The #16, which was heavily damaged in a derailment while in Mexico, was planned to be cosmetically restored into its AT&SF "Warbonnet" colors for the Smithsonian Institution. This unit was acquired by the Museum of the American Railroad and transported to the museum's new site in Frisco, Texas in April 2011.

The #18 is privately owned by Doyle McCormack and is being restored to operating condition as Nickel Plate Road #190. The restored locomotive recreates the first locomotive in which McCormack, whose father worked for the Nickel Plate Road, got to ride. It is fitted with a more modern Montreal Locomotive Works 251V12 diesel prime mover removed from a wrecked former BC Rail M420B.

The #18/#190 is part of an eclectic roster of locomotives and rolling stock owned by the city of Portland, Oregon, and by several private individuals and organizations. It is currently undergoing restoration. In mid-2012, it was moved from the roundhouse annex at the former Southern Pacific rail yard in the Brooklyn neighborhood of southeast Portland to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center, a new restoration facility and interpretive center also in southeast Portland, adjacent to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI).

The other two survivors, #17 and #19, rest side by side at the National Museum of Mexican Railroads (Museo Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos) in Puebla, Puebla. At least one Mexican unit is intact, but hasn't run in years. Unit DH-17 (former D&H #17) was painted in the classic Southern Pacific Daylight colors, but as of February 2010 had been painted over in primer.

UPDATE: According to an October 2012 online article on Trains.com (http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/staff/archive/2012/10/10/south-of-the-border-the-railroading-isn-t-much-different.aspx), unit #19 is kept in operating condition at the Mexican train museum.