Alcos of Wales

Here are photos of the only Alcos to work full time in the UK. A set of five S1 units worked in Port Talbot, Wales at the metals plant there. THey were so pleased with the Alcos and their visability that other units that were built in the UK for the plant ended up looking a lot like Alcos! So far as we know 4 of the units were saved. Thanks to Rich Frey for these photos!

The dead line with the three units [801-4-5]coupled.

A view of S1 801 on dead line. This was the unit shipped intact from Schenectady. The others were built from "kits" supplied by Alco.

This unit [802] suffered a major failure a few years before my visit, and had been used as a parts source to keep the other four units going. It was parked behind the locomotive shop on the track used to cut up scrap equipment. The proceeds were fed directly into the steel furnace. I believe this was the only unit scrapped, with the other four going to museums.

This unit [803] was parked with a few of the Brush cow-calf sets on the dead line behind the shop. The front view clearly shows the "buffer stops" applied to make the units compatible with British equipment.

One of the Alcos now resides in RAILWORLD

This is a rail museum next to but separate from the Nene Valley Railway (7mile museum line) in Peterborough

As you can see they tried to repaint into Union Pacific colors.

These photos are from July 27 2003 by Martin Baumann

Last update 4 Jan 04

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