WP&Y 90 class

kcsivils Wrote:
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> Having said that, the 90s have been the main power
> of the White Pass for so long it's a shame not to
> ride behind one. I may have my years mixed up, but
> I think the White Pass has had diesels longer than
> it's primary power was steam.

GE records show the 90 and 91 s/n 32060-32061 being shipped from GE (likely Erie, PA though they also built locos in this era at Schenectady, NY also) on July 23, 1954. I would guess they arrived in Skagway in late August or early September and made their shake dawn trips soon after.

I've recently stumbled into some interesting information. GE didn't assign serial numbers to their locomotives as built, but in blocks of similar types as they were ordered and scheduled for production. 32062-32066 were not assigned, but 32050-32059 were 78 tons for Cuba delivered in June and July of 1953. The 78 tons (similar to a 70 ton design) were the first production locomotives built with the ALCo 251 engine. BUT - neither GE or ALCo delivered another locomotive with the ALCo 251 engine for another year. It is claimed that ALCo's service personnel spent enough time in Cuba dealing with the new 251 diesel engine issues they acquired an appreciation for the local cigars. There is also a claim that the GE and ALCo engineers were clashing over the 251 design, and I have seen a potential reason for the initial 800 hp rating. In addition, there were apparently production issues with the US military's 244-powered MRS-1 which was a GE design being built by ALCo.

In 1940 ALCo and GE entered an agreement to jointly produce and market their locomotives. GE provided ALCo with all the electrical equipment and apparently greatly influenced some of the design. ALCo generally built anything in the 98+ ton range, while GE built the smaller designs and was apparently free to pursue the export market without restriction. During this era, GE used Cummins, Caterpillar, ALCo and Cooper-Bessemer diesel engines to power their designs. At some point, GE also assumed the marketing duties for ALCo. In 1953, GE broke from ALCo and the agreement was discontinued.

1953-1956 was an era of transition for GE. Westinghouse gave notice they were exiting the traction electrical market (Baldwin/Whitcomb, Porter, Davenport and others generally used Westinghouse electrical equipment), leaving GE as the only outside supplier. EMD started building their own about 1940, likely part of the reason GE entered into the ALCo-GE agreement. After splitting with ALCo, GE quickly moved to license the Cooper-Bessemer F series engine for further development (became GE's FDL series in 1961 with the introduction of the U25, and introduced the Universal series (Caterpillar or Cooper-Bessemer powered) primarily for export in 1956.

Due to problems with the ALCo 251 engine entering production, it is likely that the original intent had been to deliver the first White Pass engines in 1953, and was likely delayed after issues with the Cuban 78 tons' 251 engines. They were likely ordered in the ALCo-GE era. It is interesting that GE continued to deliver them in small batches to White Pass until 1966. It wasn't unusual for a railroad to order older designs to try and make locomotive maintenance easier, but by 1966 ALCo was on its way out of the locomotive business (leaving MLW/BBD to carry on a few more years) having been driven out of the locomotive business by one-time partner now rival GE, yet ALCo/MLW/BBD had remained reliant on GE for electrical equipment. Had White Pass ordered these just a few years later, they would have been very different electro-mechanical design likely having far more powerful traction motors and powered by a Cooper-Bessemer/GE diesel.

I've read a late 1963 article claiming that after the deliver of a total of 8 of the diesel-electrics the White Pass intended to retire steam. 1898-1953 would be steam powered for 55 years; 1953-1964 is 11 years of transition; 1964 to 2018 is 54 years of primarily diesel powered.

Dan