B&M ALCO's on the Conn River..

Well, well, well . . . 244-powered Alcos doing a hard day's work, very well-broken-in and with less than perfect maintenance, at that.  How does that compare to what we hear from know-it-alls who have never even breathed a whiff of exhaust from an Alco model 244 diesel engine, but keep declaring what poor, unreliable, engines they were? We should all remember this photo -- as well as all the photos of the Alco-powered San Francisco Chief and Fast Mail racing across the Southwest -- the next time one of the railfan "experts" gets on his soap box.

Thanks for posting the unusual photo, BXCDAN

Hi there Tom... Thanks for the reply..  I have been around a couple ALCO's in my time in revenue service. Amtrak had one around the Boston Area that I would see and be track side as a kid.. then a few others on local short lines screaming up hills and the like pulling freight cars.. Anyhow, in my research on these, (I did (4) with all the oils coming out and faded B&M blue paint, I did at least a month of research before I painted them etc and even called the authors of the pictures I found to make sure the light faded blue was right.. when having shown these locally here in Central MA, the people who remember seeing the live state they are "right on!") I think they came out pretty good. I have two D&H ALCO's to also oil up and weather.. Look forward to future posts..  Dan 

 

Number 90 posted:

Well, well, well . . . 244-powered Alcos doing a hard day's work, very well-broken-in and with less than perfect maintenance, at that.  How does that compare to what we hear from know-it-alls who have never even breathed a whiff of exhaust from an Alco model 244 diesel engine, but keep declaring what poor, unreliable, engines they were? We should all remember this photo -- as well as all the photos of the Alco-powered San Francisco Chief and Fast Mail racing across the Southwest -- the next time one of the railfan "experts" gets on his soap box.

Thanks for posting the unusual photo, BXCDAN

Those couplers look an awful lot like Kadee's.

A garden railroad perhaps?

A fine photo, however.

Rusty

Hi there Rusty and good afternoon..  Thanks for the accolades.. the model RR is an O-Scale 2 Rail layout. Thanks, Dan 

Haha, I was caught blind.   But I still stand by Alco as a good locomotive when the owner wanted to take care of it.  Not as good as an EMD, but good.

Wonderful Alco oily weathering on that pair of not real Alcos.

Tom,  Thanks.. they came out well. I have two more I can share here when I get some pictures.. here is another ALCO i did for my home road.. "Hampden Terminal RR" 

Good stuff Dan. Nothing like the RS-3 and they serve many O scale modelers very well. I have one to complete when I get the hundred dozen other railroad chores done. I almost made the trip to your open house after Enfield. Still need to come visit for sure.

Bob

When I first looked at the posted photo I thought my, my, my.  What exacting level of detail those shadows on the engine have.  And then I thought, how did someone get in a position to take this photo?  Well they probably used a 1950's version of the lithium powered drone with a bluetooth wireless camera mounted to it.

But after reading post number two, I was hesitant to offer up any comments.  But alas, the influence of the B&M paint scheme of blue, black and white has overpowered my decision making.  

Now I've never breathed any diesel exhaust fumes from a 1:1 scale diesel engine, nor have I shoveled coal on a steamer, but I always appreciate some of the classic paint schemes of the past including the Ontario Northland blue/yellow, the Santa Fe blue/yellow and red/silver paint schemes, SP Black Widow,  Missouri Pacific yellow/gray/blue, Northen Pacific gold/black/red, the red/white/blue of the BAR, the UP grey/yellow and of course the black/blue/white of the Boston and Maine.

So regardless of what shade of blue it should have, or how many rivets are on the bulkhead, I think it's a great photo and some nice looking engines.