A photo of a former Alco C636 demonstrator in the process of being scrapped on Jan. 10, 2015.
Bernie Gumosky
COHOCTON, N.Y. – Two former Alco C636 demonstrators are in the process of being scrapped in Cohocton. The units were former Alco demonstrators C636-2 and C636-3. After they finished their time as demonstrators, they were sold to Canada’s Chemin De Fer Cartier, or Cartier Railway, and renumbered 77 and 78 before returning to the U.S.
The units were owned by Rail Road Power Leasing, which is owned by Morristown & Erie Railroad President Wes Weiss.
Alco produced only 34 of the 3,600-hp C636s in 1967-68, although AE Goodwin in Australia built 29 more units under Alco license. They were constructed between May 1968 and October 1970 for use on iron ore railroads in that country.
Noooo! Say it ain't so!
At least Delaware-Lackawanna C-636 #3642 still exists, and operates. The lone survivor, a former Penn Central/Conrail locomotive. It is sad these two locomotives weren't saved. I hope the D-L was able to save the trucks, and some other parts.
I saw these running on the Quebec Cartier about 12 years ago. One would think that although they were probably worn-out and unlikely to find a buyer as working units anymore, that a museum would've offered more money for them as intact hulks for display than the M&E realized for them as scrap. Unfortunately, and as is so often the case, unless the seller reaches out to the preservation community and sets a reasonable price and a realistic deadline to move 'em or lose 'em, chances are the equipment ends up looking like the photo.
being a retired locomotive engineer of forty years, I remeber in 1968 when 636 showed up on spokane portland and seattle railway, the units held up relatively well at first but demands for power and use caused turbo and overspeed issues to be common,then came the Burlington Northern merger with no demand for Alco locomotives .It's sad to see any locomotive from this period being scrapped.
I think the C636 demonstrators were sold to Morrison Knudsen in the early 70s. I saw a couple of them in service while leased to the power hungry (pre-SD40) Clinchfield in Erwin, TN back then. They join a select group of locomotives that missed preservation, like the F-M H2466.
Aren't there laws to prevent this sort of thing from happening …
Hard to look at, wish they could have been saved.
its so sad but its the m&e what do you expect soon they will scrap there ex bar units.
this is a shame they should have donated at least one of them some where.
This is so incredibly sad…and demo units, too!! How many C636s remain? The image is heartbreaking…
Why were they not saved in some form? Even cosmetic restoration is better than this.
I think their history is rather more complex. Are these not the ones that spent time as part of Morrison-Knudsen's lease fleet, and had quite a variety of assignments during that period?
John