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ALCO boxcab

 
ALCO Boxcab

 
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ALCO boxcab
 
 
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The ALCO boxcabs were diesel-electric switcher
Switcher

A switcher or shunter is a small Rail transport locomotive intended not for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been brought in, and generally moving railroad cars around - a process usually known as Shunt ....
 locomotives, otherwise known as AGEIR boxcab
Boxcab

A boxcab, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive in which the machinery and crew areas are enclosed in a box-like superstructure Boxcabs do not have heavily styled ends, or a superstructure consisting of multiple boxy structures, although the prototype diesel/oil-electric, GE #8835, had one prominently-rounded nose and the second and fo...
s as a contraction of the names of the builders. Produced by a partnership of three companies, ALCO
American Locomotive Company

The American Locomotive Company, often shortened to ALCO or Alco , was a builder of railroad locomotives in the United States....
 (American Locomotive Company) built the chassis and running gear, General Electric
General Electric

The General Electric Company, or GE is a multinational corporation United States technology and Service s conglomerate incorporated in the State of New York....
 the generator, motors and controls, and Ingersoll Rand
Ingersoll Rand

Ingersoll Rand is a $17 billion global diversified industrial company founded in 1871. The Ingersoll Rand name came into use in 1905 through the combination of Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company and Rand Drill Company....
 the diesel engine.






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The ALCO boxcabs were diesel-electric switcher
Switcher

A switcher or shunter is a small Rail transport locomotive intended not for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been brought in, and generally moving railroad cars around - a process usually known as Shunt ....
 locomotives, otherwise known as AGEIR boxcab
Boxcab

A boxcab, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive in which the machinery and crew areas are enclosed in a box-like superstructure Boxcabs do not have heavily styled ends, or a superstructure consisting of multiple boxy structures, although the prototype diesel/oil-electric, GE #8835, had one prominently-rounded nose and the second and fo...
s as a contraction of the names of the builders. Produced by a partnership of three companies, ALCO
American Locomotive Company

The American Locomotive Company, often shortened to ALCO or Alco , was a builder of railroad locomotives in the United States....
 (American Locomotive Company) built the chassis and running gear, General Electric
General Electric

The General Electric Company, or GE is a multinational corporation United States technology and Service s conglomerate incorporated in the State of New York....
 the generator, motors and controls, and Ingersoll Rand
Ingersoll Rand

Ingersoll Rand is a $17 billion global diversified industrial company founded in 1871. The Ingersoll Rand name came into use in 1905 through the combination of Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company and Rand Drill Company....
 the diesel engine. The principle of operation was the same as modern locomotives, the diesel engine driving a main generator of 600 volts DC with four traction motors, one per axle.

Two models were the 60-Ton with a six-cylinder four-stroke in-line engine of 300 hp
Horsepower

Horsepower is the name of several non-International System of Units units of power . It was originally defined to allow the output of steam engines to be measured and compared with the power output of draft horses....
 and the 100-Ton with two of the same engines. Twenty-six units were produced between 1925 and 1930. These were the first commercially successful production diesel-electric locomotives.

ALCO dropped out of the arrangement in 1928, acquired their own diesel engine manufacturer in McIntosh & Seymour and went on to start its own line of diesel switchers. The first ALCO boxcab switcher was outshopped in January 1931 and after a brief demonstration tour was sold to Jay Street Connecting. The ALCO Boxcab and two end cab switchers built in early 1931 used the McIntosh & Seymour 330 engine. This early development of end cab switchers led ALCO to build the HH series
ALCO HH series

The ALCO HH series were an early series of switcher diesel-electric locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, New York between 1931 and 1940, when they were replaced by the S series; the ALCO S-1 and S-3 and ALCO S-2 and S-4....
 based on the McIntosh & Seymour 531 engine and using GE electrical components by mid 1931.

The six surviving examples of these earliest boxcabs can be found at the B&O Museum in Baltimore, MD (CNJ #1000 - the first), the Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, MO (B&O #1/195/8000), the North Alabama Railroad Museum in Huntsville Alabama (Union Carbide #3/11), the Feather River Railroad Society in Portola, CA (Foley Bros. #110-1 - the only 100-ton dual-engined survivor, a GE-IR), the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL (DL&W #3001/IR #91), and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI (IR #90).

The earliest boxcabs were often termed "oil-electrics" to avoid the use of the German name "Diesel", unpopular after World War I.

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