Alco DL109's

[Carey Williams]

Happy all
Alco introduced their DL109 in 1939 ...production till 1945...when the new and much improved PA was developed.
Alco DL109's O scale Bay State 1948 & New Haven Railroad scratch built.
link for video

https://youtu.be/l6RFvVNmhW0?si=I81K73tdO4B5kHll

Cheers Carey

Thank you Jim for the Scratchbuilt model ...the Bay State chassis fit like a glove to get it rolling .

[bob turner]

Carey's photos - without comment:

[up148]

I didn't realize they were introduced so early in the diesel revolution. I've always considered them one of the ugliest and strangest looking locos ever produced. I never saw them in the Midwest, but I assume if you grew up out east and seeing them as a child, they could be as cherished as much as F units are to those who grew up in the Midwest.

[bob turner]

Well, I sort of grew up on the PRR Main Line - got used to seeing GG1s and E44s. The one I could never stomach was the Baldwin Centipede. Yeah, sure, a lot better looking than the DL-109. Growing up with ugly does not always alter first impressions.

Wanna see a truly ugly locomotive? go to Portland, Oregon, and observe what parks next to the southbound Starlight in mid-afternoon. My only memory of that travesty is that it makes a pig look like a movie star.

[Carey Williams]

Bob ..please do not hold back. ..Tell us how you really feel .

Cheers Carey

[steamaheadstephen59]

I think the Dl109, having a face that only a Mother or Father could love, and should I find one wonting a home, I think Id be willing to adopt. it sort of grows on you the longer you see it.

[up148]

It always struck me as having the face of an cartoon train.

[E7]

It probably looked OK before it was smashed.

Rich

[ScaleCraft]

When I was in the Navy 50+ years ago, a neighbor in the apartments loved them.
The more weed he had, the better he loved them and the more vocal he got about it.
Never did anything for me, then or now.

[Dennis Holler]

Damn, been 32 years for me out of the Navy lol. Well Carey offered me an O DL109… thoughts are to paint it GM&O…. Although I sure like the std E & F unit scheme better than what they put on their lone DL109. Thinking of trying to build an O scale version of an ho Athearn drive for it.

[sarge]

Aw, you guys are all wet. GRIN!

The DL-109 is a thing of grace and beauty as are the slant-nose E's, far prettier than E-7 and later. You want ugly, there are the M-10000 style streamliners and the IC "Tomato Worm" and gawd knows how many streamlined steamers; upside down bathtubs, suppositories with wheels, or those dreadful Lackawanna things with the feathers.

While Carey's models are historical artefacts onto themselves, they don't remotely capture the look of the prototype so really can't be used to judge how the real thing looked any more than a Lionel F3 or those early HO Tenshodo imports can be used to judge the looks of an F-unit.

[bob turner]

Nice to see you back - you have been missed.

Agree on the streamliners and upside down bathtub steamers. Prefer the PA and E7 to your chosen Diesels. As they say, one man's meat . . .

In my old age, I did learn to appreciate the grace of 4-4-0s, 4-4-2s, and those PRR turbines and T1 sharknoses. Took a long time.

[sarge]

I agree with you strongly on the PA; a classy look though not a graceful one like its predecessor or the slant-nose E. I hold the PA in special esteem; on a pedestal of its own. Late Es are ok I guess. Not hideous by any means but not inspiring either.

4-4-0s and the like I also appreciate, not only for their appearance but for the engineering genius of the suspension design on the "American Standard", a lesson in classical kinematics and a tribute to those guys who well understood the concepts. We think we're so dam smart but that is but one example of how humbling the engineering genius of these folks was back then.

Pennsy turbines, the S-1, and the T-1s I will never wrap my head around, nor can I with baby-faced Baldwins or Sharknose anythings. No loco should be sporting a clipper-bow. GRIN! I'll happily build models of them, though.

I've been building a lot over the last couple years so my time for forums, especially political nonsense and personalities, has been very limited and I swore if I had nothing constructive or cheerful to say I would keep my trap shut.

[Carey Williams]

Glad we can all have unique and different opinions..........would not want to be just another brick in the wall .

Cheers Carey

[bob turner]

Spent the afternoon behind a 7 cylinder radial engine. Seven cylinders, four cam lobes in the magnetoes, fire every other cylinder as the crank rotates - 1930s engineers. I agree wholeheartedly, those guys really knew how to do stuff.

I did the math once, during a magneto overhaul event. Double checked it with factory drawings. I forget the result, but it was something like 28:12 reduction.

The light aircraft engines of today are all based on 1930s technology.

I do admire the suspension of the 4-4-0, but I think I need a tutorial. We had one at the museum, with levers to the front truck, but I forget exactly how it all worked - and not sure it was prototypical.

We do have talented engineers today - look at the internet, or for that matter, GPS, or that stupid 3x6 black box that everybody stares at all day long. Amazing stuff.

Today I am finishing up an FA and an FT, both in lifetime sand cast brass/bronze. Works of art from the 1940s. Appreciate our heritage!