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The PA was Alco's glamour girl. While Electro-Motive's E-units easily beat Alco's passenger engine in terms of popularity, the PA is widely regarded as the most beautiful first-generation diesel-period. Perhaps no other locomotive looked so right at the head of the streamlined trains of the late forties and fifties that were the last hurrah of American long-distance passenger service. The 294 PA's and cabless PB's built between 1946 and 1953 powered some of the most famous name trains from coast to coast, from the Santa Fe's Super Chief to the New Haven's Merchants' Limited.

The muscular PA profile and its elegant nose with the characteristic grille around the headlight were designed by Ray Patten of General Electric. At the time, GE and Alco were partners in the locomotive business, with GE making the electrical equipment for all Alco diesels. While Alco would later fall by the wayside, GE went on to become America's largest locomotive builder by the early 1990s.

Under the hood of the PA beat a 16-cylinder model 244 prime mover that developed 2000 hp. Depending on their gearing, PA's could hustle a passenger consist along at up to 100 mph.

Long after all other PA's had gone to scrap, four restored ex-Santa Fe units remained in service on the Delaware & Hudson into the late 1970s. Sold to the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico (FNM) in 1978, most of the units eventually deteriorated to junk status, although one remained operational. But in April of 2000, Doyle McCormack - who also happens to be the engineer of 4449, the restored Southern Pacific Daylight - and the Smithsonian Institution repatriated two of the junked units for rebuilding. One of the units will be restored to Santa Fe livery for static display, while Doyle is bringing the other PA back to life in the Nickel Plate Road "Bluebird" scheme. You can follow the progress of Doyle's labor on the Web site www.nkp190.com.

M.T.H. Electric Trains will be releasing several limited-edition releases of the RailKing RS-3 diesel locomotive in four different liveries this Summer. These unique releases are part of a series of products representing the last M.T.H. production runs as the company concludes its 40-year history this year. Each of these offerings is expected to arrive in August 2021.

See the full 2021 collection of RS-3 Diesels HERE.


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