ALCO S-1 and S-3


The ALCO S-1 and S-3 were diesel-electric switcher locomotives produced by ALCO and their Canadian subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works. The two locomotives differed only in trucks, with the S-1 using ALCO's own Blunt trucks, and the S-3 using AAR type A switcher trucks. The S-1 was built between April 1940 and June 1950, with a total of 543 completed, while the S-3 was constructed between February 1950 and November 1953 with total sales of 300. A modified version, the S-10, was built by MLW only; 13 were built between January and June 1958.

Identification

The S-1 and S-3 are distinguishable externally from the very similar S-2 and S-4 switchers in that they have a smaller exhaust stack with a round base and a smaller radiator shutter area on the nose sides. The S-1/S-3 radiator shutter area is taller than it is wide, while the S-2/S-4 radiator area is wider. The smaller stack is due to the lack of turbocharging.
The S-10 is not externally distinguishable from later Canadian-built S-3 locomotives; it differed mostly in electrical equipment.

Original owners

The S-1 and S-3 models were sold to an extensive list of railroads and industrial operators, as detailed below. Major owners of the S-1 included the New York Central Railroad, with 71 locomotives; the New Haven with 65 locomotives; the L&N with 45 locomotives; the C&NW, with 29 locomotives; and the Pennsylvania Railroad with 27 locomotives. Major customers for the S-3 included the CP, with 101; the CN, with 49; the NYC, with 43 locomotives; the B&M, with 16; and the PRR, with 13. The MLW S-10 was sold only to the CP.
The totals below include export orders and MLW-built locomotives.

S-1

ALCO constructed approximately 535 S-1s for the US market between 1940 and 1950.
RailroadQuantityRoad numbers
Alabama Great Southern Railroad26501–6502
Alameda Belt Line3D-1–D-3
Alco 1660
Alco 15
Alco/War Department1GT-1304
American Steel & Wire12
Ann Arbor Railroad22–3
ARMCO Steel3E106–E108
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway22303–2304
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad6223–227, 250
Belt Railway of Chicago3304–306
Birmingham Southern Railroad2100, 101
Boston and Maine Railroad101163–1172
Broward County Port Authority1410
Canadian Car and Munitions15
Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil53001–3005
Central of Georgia Railway24, 6
Central Railroad of New Jersey21024, 1025
Champlain Paper and Fibre125
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad3103–105
Chicago and North Western Railway291202–1205, 1213, 1223–1229, 1232–1236, 1247–1258
Chicago Great Western Railway511–15
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway356, 57, 69
Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway26000–6001
City of Prineville Railway1101
Donner Hanna Coal Company12
Day and Zimmerman 13-100
Defense Plant Corporation2DPC25.23, DPC25.24
Delray Connecting Railroad466, 68, 70, 72
Des Moines Union Railway41–4
Detroit and Mackinac Railway1646
East St. Louis Junction Railroad1100
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway5213–217
Erie Railroad16306–321
Ford Motor Company46601–6604
Great Lakes Steel Corporation132
Green Bay and Western Railroad1102
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad4661–664
Hunken Conkey Construction21001–1002
Inland Steel753, 56, 61, 62, 64–66
Inland Waterways Corporation11
Iowa Transfer Railroad12
John Morrell & Co.17
Kansas City Terminal Railway540–44
Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad1103
Lehigh Valley Railroad1117
Long Island Rail Road14404–408, 413–420, 421
Louisville and Nashville Railroad4516–29, 34–68
Maine Central Railroad8953–960
Massena Terminal Railroad28, 9
Minnesota Transfer Railway560–64
Missouri Pacific Railroad29007, 9008
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway41–4
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México55000-5004
Newburgh and South Shore Railway73–7, 9, 10
New Orleans and Lower Coast Railroad39013-9015
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad650931–0995
New Jersey, Indiana and Illinois Railroad11
New York Central Railroad71590, 685–744, 864–873
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad185
Northern Pacific Railway1131
Northern Pacific Terminal530–34
Pennsylvania Railroad275661–5670, 5954–5956, 9100–9103, 9237–9246
Point Comfort and Northern Railway15
Port Huron and Detroit Railroad251, 52
Portland Terminal Company41005-1008
Procter & Gamble19
Pullman Railroad220, 21
Reading Company550-54
Red River Ordnance Depot17372
Republic Steel915–17, 312–314, D840, D841, D810
River Terminal Railway152
St. Louis and O'Fallon Railway151
Seaboard Air Line11201
Sheffield Steel Corporation311–13
Solvay Processing Division, Allied Chemical31–3
South Buffalo Railway451, 52, 60, 61
Southern Pacific Company41017–1020
Southern Railway32000, 2001, 2006
South Omaha Terminal Railway51–5
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway210, 11, 10 Sold to City of Prineville 102, 11 to Burlington Northern 11
Steel Company of Wales 5801–805
Studebaker22, 3
Tennessee Central Railway151
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company3700–702
Tennessee Copper2104, 105
Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis4521–524
Texas and New Orleans Railroad110
Texaco119
Texas City Terminal Railway230, 31
Texas Pacific-Missouri Pacific Terminal Railroad of New Orleans23, 4
Timken Rolling Bearing Company25911, 5912
Toledo, Angola and Western Railway1101
Traux Truer Coal110
Union Railroad4451–454
Upper Merion and Plymouth Railroad154
U.S. Army117132-7136, 7141-7142, 7374-7375, 7459-7460
Wabash Railroad9151–159
Weirton Steel3200, 203, 204
Western Maryland Railway1102
Western Pacific Railroad8504–511
Youngstown Sheet and Tube5661–665
Total543

S-3

ALCO and the Montreal Locomotive Works constructed approximately 300 S-3s for the North American market between 1950 and 1957.

S-10

MLW constructed 13 S-10s in 1958, all for the Canadian Pacific Railway, numbered 6601–6613. These units were essentially similar to late-built S3s, though with minor updates to the electrical gear.

S-11

In 1959, MLW built a final order of 660 horsepower switchers for the Canadian Pacific, as model S-11, numbered 6614–6623. The internal machinery of these units was essentially the same as that of the S-10, but the car body was radically redesigned, with the radiator on the front end of the hood instead of on the sides.

Preservation

Numerous S-1 and S-3 locomotives remain in use, and several are preserved: