When Did They Run?


N

N-gauged

Off The Rails
I've been try'n to do some research on the D&RGW PA/PB locos that ran from Denver to Salt Lake City.
I'm not have'n much luck.
I'm want'n to know what years they ran.
The best I can tell is they ran during the fifties.

Does anyone know when they used PA/PB's to pull the California Zephyr through the Rockies?

Here's a pic I found on the web of the Zephyr in action.
DRGW-CaliforniaZephyr2.jpg

​
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Alco only built them from '46-53, I'm not into D&RG but as far as I can tell they only bought 4 A units and 2 B units and received them in 1947. Santa Fe was the bigest buyer of PA's but then they had a lot of everything.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanx for the info.

So if I do my theme in the early 50's I should probably be in the right time frame then.
​
 
N-gauged said:
Thanx for the info.

So if I do my theme in the early 50's I should probably be in the right time frame then.
​
Click to expand...
Acording to those links, they sold them in 1950 (only 3yrs old). I read somewhere else that were they were under powered, so D&RG must not have liked them. You could still do that era and get away with it. Besides it's your world, do what you want.

I have loco's that are too new for my era and some that should have been gone but I like them, so they're there.
 
Somehow I find it hard to believe that the PA's would be considered underpowered. I think a better term would be lightfooted.
 
The pic I post'd is (I believe) from the 50's.
It's a PA pull'n the California Zephyr from Denver to Glenwood Springs.
So they did use the PA's for at least one trip and that is good enough for me.
​
 
Cjcrescent said:
Somehow I find it hard to believe that the PA's would be considered underpowered. I think a better term would be lightfooted.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can't find the article anywhere but here was some other info:
Two different models were offered: the 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW) PA-1/PB-1 (built between September, 1946 and June, 1950); the 2,250 horsepower (1,680 kW) PA-2/PB-2 (built between April, 1950 and December, 1953)

Models popularly termed the PA-3/PB-3 were in fact only an upgrade of the PA-2/PB-2. The true PA-3/PB-3 model would have boasted 2,400 horsepower (1,800 kW), though none were ever built.

The ALCO 244 V16 diesel prime mover proved to be the undoing of the PA: The engine had been rushed into production, and proved to be unreliable in service. The PA locomotives failed to capture a marketplace dominated by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and their E-units. The original Santa Fe three unit set #51L, 51A and 51B was repowered in August 1954 with EMD 16-567C engines rated at 1,750 hp (1,305 kW).

I'm still not clear on the info in the the links above. They were built in 47, but did D&RG get them right away in '47 and sell in '50 ? Or get them in '50 and then sold and scrapped in '67, I see other pictures that almost have to be later than 1950 in different paint scemes (Black and Yellow)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top