Nostalgia & History > OTD: Alaska Alco switcher, S2 or S4? ('71)

This is a Dick Wallin shot @ Anchorage on Jan 23, 1971. The references I found refer to it as x-US Army #7112 and an S2, but this has AAR trucks which were found on S4's. I have it listed as an S2. Was it was re-trucked. Any info on this?

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http://www.alaskarails.org/glance/complete-roster.html
ALCO S2  ARR #7112   Blt 1943 B/N  70081.   Former USA 7112 was in service with ARR from 1955 until 1972 and went to scrap in 1973

When I liived at Fr. Rich, 1956-1958, there were 4 S2s on the ARR.. wag216

Very unusual application of brake cylinders to the "AAR Type A" trucks. Usually there was a single cylinder that worked on both axles.

http://ibls.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=File:Aar-a_on-flatcar_slc_oct-1991-X3.jpg

Wasn't it the Alaska RR which had GP7s with AAR switcher trucks? When they got retrucked with standard Blomberg trucks perhaps ARR placed the switcher trucks on the S4s since they were newer with fewer parts than the standard S2 trucks. Anyone know for sure?

Railroad Pictures Archive only shows chopnose GP7s with what appears to be AAR B trucks which were found on Alco road switchers and cab units. The Second Diesel Spotters Guide on page EMD-54 in the variations paragraph says, "NC&StL, Alaska and U.S. Army had GP7s on type A switcher trucks." There are no photos included.

The Contemporary Diesel Spotters Guide page 262 covers the ARR GP7 upgrades from MK and Paducah 1975-1977. This documents the truck swap from the original switcher trucks to Alco type B trucks from the Alaska RS-1s which were being scrapped by ARR. So that means ARR had 10 sets of newer switcher trucks available to retrofit their S2 switchers.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/19 11:10 by fbe.

'fbe' wrote "Wasn't it the Alaska RR which had GP7s with AAR switcher trucks?"
Here are  2  ex-Alaska GP's, first is #1804 in Denver (11/6/94) in it's movie garb ( Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) and the second #1810 (still in the basic movie scheme) as Nevada Industrial Switching at El Mirage, AZ (Phoenix area) on Mar. 26, 1996



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/19 12:03 by valmont.

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Those would be the trucks from the ARR RS-1 units.

Do you have any US Army or Alaska GP7 slides in your collection showing the switcher trucks underneath them? Thanks.

Alaska GP7's were oringially US Army built with AAR Type A switcher trucks.
Subsequently, the Alaska Railraod re-trucked their GP7's with AAR Type B trucks from their scrapped RS-1's.
ALLEN