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ALCO FA
The ALCO FA was a family of B-B diesel locomotives designed to haul freight trains. The locomotives were built by a partnership of ALCO and General Electric in Schenectady, New York, between January 1946 and May 1959. They were of a cab unit design, and both cab-equipped lead (A unit) FA and cabless booster (B unit) FB models were built. A dual passenger-freight version, the FPA/FPB, was also offered. It was equipped with a steam generator for heating passenger cars.
Externally, the FA and FB models looked very similar to the ALCO PA models produced in the same period. Both the FA and PA models were styled by GE's Ray Patten. They shared many of the same characteristics both aesthetically and mechanically. It was the locomotive's mechanical qualities (the ALCO 244 V-12 prime mover) and newer locomotive models from both General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) and General Electric (the partnership with ALCO was dissolved in 1953) that ultimately led to the retirement of the FA/FB locomotive model from revenue service. Several examples of FAs and FBs have been preserved in railroad museums, a few of them in operational status on such lines as the Grand Canyon Railway and the Napa Valley Wine Train. ALCO's designation of F, marks these locomotives as being geared primarily for freight use. Where as the P designation of the PA sets were geared for higher speeds and passenger use. However beyond this, their design was largely similar, and many railroads used FA and PA locomotives for both freight and passenger.
==Service history==
The FAs, as well as their cousins, the ALCO PAs, were born as a result of Alco's development of a new diesel engine design, the Model 244. In early 1944, development started on the new design, and by November 1945, the first engines were beginning to undergo tests. This unusually short testing sequence was brought about by the decision of Alco's senior management that the engine and an associated line of road locomotives had to be introduced no later than the end of 1946. In preparation for this deadline, by January 1946, the first four locomotives with the 244 engines had been built. Two FA-1s and an FB-1 were painted in Alco Demonstrator colors and were released for road tests for a month and a half on the Delaware and Hudson Railway. A strike at Alco delayed production beyond the first four units and delivery of the first three ex-demonstrator units, to the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad, began in mid February 1946. The remainder of the order began delivery in May 1946 and continued until April 1947 for a total of 80 units. Before the end of this production run, Alco upgraded the generators and traction motors in the locomotives, with the first of these models entering service in February 1947 for the New York Central. In 1950, the Montreal Locomotive Works, an affiliate of Alco, began production of FAs as well. In the Fall of 1950, an upgraded model, the FA-2, was launched. This model featured an uprated Model 244 engine, with an output of 1600 horsepower. Additionally, the carbody was lengthened, making possible the addition of a steam generator in the A unit to allow for passenger service. Models equipped as such were designated the FPA-2/FPB-2. The first FA-2s were delivered in October 1950 to the Baltimore and Ohio and the Erie. By this time, however, the cab unit had fallen out of favor due to the greater versatility of road switchers, and U S production of the FA line ended in 1956, with Canadian production ending in 1959.〔 The MTA Long Island Rail Road purchased 20 units and removed the traction motors from the units. the LIRR used them to supply AC HEP (head end power) to the cars of the train. Also the engines were used as a cab when another engine was pushing on the east end of the train. By the late 1990s and early 2000s the railroad began retiring the alcos for new double deck cab cars.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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