Wednesday, May 2, 2012

ALCo Century 415 switcher

One of 10 of the American Locomotive Company or ALCo Century 415 switcher (what we call shunter) units that Chicago, Rock Island & Pacfic (usually just referred to as Rock Island Line) acquired, is seen at Blue Island, Illinois, in the late 1960s.
  
This was a Bo-Bo type diesel equipped with a raised cab mounted slightly off-centre, with a lower, narrower hood on either side. The longer hood contained the engine, a 1500 hp (1,100 kW) eight-cylinder turbocharged Alco 251-F, while the shorter contained auxiliaries. 

The C415 could be ordered with three different cab heights; a low one for minimum clearances, a regular height one, and an extra-height one for maximum visibility. Trucks (bogies) fitted were either AAR Type B or ALCO Hi-Ad (high adhesion).  A total of 26 of C415 units were built between 1966 and 1968 for seven different owners and a few are still in use today. 

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