Nostalgia & History > Alco Century C855 Pics.

Does anyone have any of the Massive Alco Century C855 pictures to post on here? I take it not a single one is around anymore?.. Was UP the only one with them?

Mike Keithly
Kimball, NE

Only three were built - 2 With cabs and one cabless "B" Unit.

They were an unqualified failure by all accounts.

Here ya go

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A couple more pictures for you.

1. UP 60

2. UP 60B

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Did any of those bad boys ever run with the gas turbines?

RE Turbines: They might have been run with the big blows at least as both were on the property at the same time.

Nice photos by the way. The lack of front handrails on those units gives them an even odder look. They must have sounded great - when they were running, that is. Kind of Ironic that UP ended up buying Alco's largest and most famous steam locomotive - The Big Boy, And also Alco's largest and most noted failure of a diesel locomotive - The C855.

Odd way to enter the cab. Did the front door ever open out or have grab irons up front?

830-east Wrote:

> Odd way to enter the cab. Did the front door ever
> open out or have grab irons up front?

There were rear doors on both sides of the cab, but none at the front. Notice that the pilot is not rigidly connected to the frame, but swivels with the span bolster that connects the two front Type-B trucks. The 8-axle GE U50 was similar in this respect.

The C855 did have grab irons up the engineer's side of the nose.

You need to come up with a copy of George R. Cockle's book "Giants of the West" From Overland Publications. It has a section of the 855's with builder and company photos. Has a page or two on the cab, control stand, and detail photos of trucks engines, couplings, etc. The book has hundreds of photos of all the big stuff UP had from the 40's to the 70's, Including all the turbines.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> Notice that the pilot is
> not rigidly connected to the frame, but swivels
> with the span bolster

Pilot swivels, handrails missing, lack of front door detail ... Those aren't from Alco, they're from Rivarossi.

Now if a giraffe looks like a horse built by a committee, then this is the locmotive equivalent. The B-unit looks like a fun house trailer from the county fair.

Maybe this is when Alco started to lose it, when they agreed to quote this project and build this thing in the first place?

Unfortunatly I think ALCO had already lost it. The wiring problem with all 3 from the factory is a clear indication some people were not paying attention. The quality issues were present and the aluminum pistons later used in the 251 took ALCO out by it's own accord. A sad story of poor judgement at many levels I think.