ALCO T-6

The ALCO T-6, specification DL 440, was a diesel-electric switcher locomotive rated at 1,000 horsepower that rode on two-axle trucks in a B-B wheel arrangement. The T stands for Transfer: it could change speed faster and sustain higher speeds than the regular S-series yard switchers, thanks to heavier GE 752 traction motors of the kind used on road locomotives instead of the GE 731 motors of ALCO's earlier switchers, which greatly improved slow-speed lugging. The T-6 was the last series of locomotives built by ALCO, and the last one, Newburgh and South Shore 1017, was built in 1969, the year the company left the locomotive business. It survives in operation on the West Michigan Railroad, one of 14 T-6s that survive in all.