Nostalgia & History > Jump starting an ALCO - KJRY 20

On a very cold December 30, 1990 I found myself, along with some friends, at LaHarpe, Illinois. I had chartered the Keokuk Junction Railroad's open end observation car, the Chief Keokuck, to be put on the KJ's freight from LaHarpe to Keokuk, Iowa and return. KJRY #20, ex-MRS #205, an Alco S2 built in 1941, was on the track next to the grain elevator dead. She would not crank over. What do you do with a car that won't start because of a dead battery? You jump start it from another car. Well, in the absence of another locomotive to use, #20 was jump started using an electric welder. Here you will see the results. I was using a hand held, over the shoulder, VHS full sized camcorder. I had to quit shooting for a couple of minutes as I lost feeling in my right hand that was holding the camcorder, due to the cold. I apologize that the quality is not as good by today's standards, but I'm happy to have it. Enjoy!

Roger Holmes

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Thanks for the video. Takes a certain amount of chutzpah to go out on the walkway and peer into the engineroom with all that fire and brimstone going off overhead. Is the white smoke in this case most likely unburned fuel being belched out by a cylinder that isn't firing?

Kinda sounds like it's going throw a rod, doesn't it?

be afraid it would stall before warming up

Great sound, both the Alco, and nice Nathan M3 Horn!

Regards, Jim Evans

GP30Frank Wrote:
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> Kinda sounds like it's going throw a rod, doesn't
> it?

If an Alco didn't sound like that that, I'd be worried

Wonderful!!

Don
Yreka, CA

Did they ever build a switcher with the 244 engine? Seems like they were all 539 as we have here (or older engines looking farther back to HH's etc.) or later on the 251 engine?