High hood ALCO C420's of the Long Island Rail Road, there are only 4 left, one in a Mexican museum.

Two are less than 100 miles apart, in Western NY.

Livonia Avon & Lakeville 420, (nee LIRR 200) operates daily (well, Monday-Friday) on the LAL between Lakeville and Rochester NY:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u45/ ... 2-2006.jpg

and Buffalo Southern 2010, (nee LIRR 221) stored, awaiting repairs, in Hamburg, NY.
http://www.railfan.net/railpix/submit/s ... 0-2010.jpg

(thats three..where is the 4th?)

Scot

One in the Yucatan, along a pair of PA's, and DL&W has ex-211.

Dakota Southern ? 213 (ex-LIRR 213)

The DL&W hasnt existed for 52 years! ;)
you meant DL, not DL&W.
"Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad"..there is no "Western" in the name.

and the current DL 211 is not the former LIRR 211.
the former LIRR 211 is now numbured 41.

I dont think she has operated in many years:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2610518

might not even technically belong to the DL..found a reference just now that says the unit is "being stored for Ed Bowers"..it is probably technically still VLIX 41, not DL 41.
References exist on the internet for both..(VLIX 41 and DL 41) but many people have probably mistakenly labeled it as DL 41, simply because its stored on the DL..

Scot

I've heard similar; she is stored for a fellow in Texas, but she was LIRR 211. Would be nice to see her put back in operating condition. IIRC, there were something like 5 Roberville C420's of which 41 (211) was the only one in economically restorable shape. The others were necessarily bad, but needed heavy repairs. Anyway, 41 was saved the other were not. And thank you for the correction on the DL. Please excuse a fellow who remembers "Phoebe Snow".

For the record, in addition to 211, the DL has two former LV C420's, one of which will be running in its original LV colors when restored.

This 1964-built ALCO C420 (originally Long Island RR 213) was said to be FOR SALE by the Dakota Southern one year ago.
See: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 7#p1286877

But after reading on Rypn about "twenty odd cars" cut up by Dakota Southern a few years ago
(on this thread), I wonder if the old ALCO is still there? And is it still for sale?

A long-hood forward loco!


As-delivered colors and paint design are nice. A swoosh design long before Nike.


Image sources:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPi ... ?id=103152
http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/c420/L ... rphoto.jpg

According to the Wikipedia page for the railroad, it apparently still survives, but needs a traction motor--so apparently stored dead.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

The technical support from the builders is being lost as the generation that designed the older computer systems leaves. The equipment designers who have retired, and eventually passed away without the railroad history or preservation communities taking any notice or making an effort to preserve their libraries and knowledge, are also "dinosaurs" of the railroad industry.

Note that numerous inquiries on this board from a variety of contributors over the last few years about the preservation of print libraries, electronic libraries, and training materials have generated little interest and no long term solutions.

PC

The matter of obsolete computer hardware on locos applies equally to "Light Rail Vehicles," which if anything are even more loaded with computer systems than diesel locos. Even if you can support the hardware, how about software? Who is most museums is qualified and knowledgeable enough to tinker with the software on a preserved LRV? Especially that portion of the software that has safety implications--such as brake controls and brake/power interlocking? These LRVs will make imposing static displays, and most of them in most venues should be left as such.

It's not just trains. I hear the same thing from people in auto and aviation preservation circles.
I've talked at length with people who restore old cars, and most of them tell me they think you won't be seeing restored cars at shows well into the future which have computers in them as they won't be able to work with what will be outdated systems. One said, "The only way you'll see, say, a 2010 car in a car show in 2050 or 2060 will be if it's converted to whatever operating system that exists at that time. There won't be any running with their original systems, though."

A basic problem with these cars is that they are full of obsolete electronic components. Equivalent replacement parts may not be available today. Also they may contain proprietary integrated circuits are not readily available. As long as spare circuit boards and parts are available, they can be kept running. Most electronic parts have a limited shelf time life.

The Western Railway Museum got all of Muni's spare parts. But eventually these cars will become stuffed and mounted displays. Many museums have welders and other trades competent to keep old equipment running. But few museums have members who would be competent to design a new control system for the Boeing cars.

The Boeing cars could be equipped to K-type controllers and resistor banks to be kept running. But is that really museum preservation?

Indeed. Same goes for the 1950s/1960s vehicles now. My organization also maintains vintage transit coaches. The vehicles that are in the operating fleet are having original parts replaced with commercially available components. We also stockpile parts whenever possible. I have a complete replacement drivetrain for the 1960 GM and a NOS lower engine block that was never used. When City of Tucson retired their last 1994 Neoplans, we got several complete replacement windshields (still crated) and every front headsign they had left in the shop (13-most still boxed). Best thing was that per their donation program, we got it all for free. You can bet that some programmed computer units will make their way to the preservation groups, provided that whomever the recipient is uses their connections wisely.

From what I've seen of the parts WRM got from Muni for 1258, a lot of what we got is parts which did not wear out for Muni, and won't wear out in museum service. We have good supplies of destination signs and operator's keys, for example.

Unfortunately, right now I have a fuse for 1258 on my desk which we are nearly out of, and they aren't cheap. ..EBay prices are mostly in the $30-$70 range.