CHQ Rails

Last Friday was a bittersweet day chasing SIBF, with ADIX 431 and 432 heading to their new home. It was, however, a great chase.

Ex-WNYP ALCOs on SIBF Follow me on Instagram! me on Flickr! Like us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/chqrailsEarlier this summer, WNYP sold ALCO C430 #4...

Aaaaand there it is

The Adirondack Railroad has acquired two additional Alco C-430 locomotives from the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad, just months after purchasing another Century from the short line. The acquisition gives the Adirondack three of the five remaining C-430 locomotives.

Locomotives 431 and 432 were built in December 1967 for the New York Central as their 2053 and 2054. The engines later ended up on Penn Central, Conrail, and the Morristown & Erie, before going to the WNYP. The third C-430, No. 430, arrived on the Adirondack earlier this year. Adirondack Railway Preservation Society President Luke Irvine said that the nonprofit (which operates the Adirondack Railroad) has been looking for higher horsepower locomotives, especially since expanding toward Tupper Lake, N.Y., a few years ago. The Adirondack operates on 100 miles of former NYC trackage, meaning all three Alcos will be right at home — in fact, Alco tested the C430s on the same line prior to their introduction in 1966. The Adirondack has a fleet of Alco and Montreal Locomotive Works engines, including C424s and RS18us.

“The line to Tupper Lake is mountainous,” Irvine said of the need for high-horsepower units. “And the C-430s were probably the zenith of Alco power.”

Irvine said the two units were expected to arrive on the Adirondack in the next few weeks. The acquisition of the three C-430s by the tourist railroad this year leaves just one other, locomotive 433, in regular freight service.

—Photo by Otto Vondrak

Finally got around to seeing the WNYP GP15-1s in service, seen on OL-2 on Tuesday as they brought 51 cars to interchange to the B&P at Salamanca.