by Justin Franz and Otto M. Vondrak/photos by the author
A saga that began 25 years ago in the Pacific Northwest came to a triumphant end in Scranton, Pa., this summer. On a warm July night beside Bridge 60 Tower, the sleek silhouette of an Alco PA stood gleaming in the floodlights, its blue and white paint recalling the glory days of mid-century Nickel Plate Road passenger trains. Almost a half-century since a PA led a passenger train in the U.S., NKP 190 was chomping at the bit to show everyone what it’s made of. But the road to its revival was not an easy one, making the improbable return all the more remarkable.
From Santa Fe to Scranton — Via Mexico
A total of 297 Alco PA and PB locomotives were built between 1946 and 1953. “Nickel Plate Road 190” was built as Santa Fe PA-1 62L in October 1948. For 20 years, 62L and its sister units led some of the Santa Fe’s finest trains before being retired in the late 1960s. The locomotive was headed for scrap when it received a new lease on life, thanks to Delaware & Hudson, which acquired four ex-Santa Fe PAs for passenger and excursion service. In 1975, the four units were rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen in Boise, Idaho. During the rebuild, the locomotives had their 244 prime movers replaced with the more reliable 251 and were redesignated as PA-4s.
ABOVE: While mechanical and electrical assembly continued inside the body, McCormack completed the exterior in 2014 to get ready for the “Streamliners at Spencer” event in North Carolina. —Justin Franz photo
The four units were removed from passenger service on D&H and briefly leased to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for commuter service in 1977. With a change in management at D&H, the four units were sold to Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (FNM) for passenger service in Mexico in 1978. Two of the PA-4s, 17 and 19, eventually found their way into museums south of the border, where they remain today (one is reportedly even operational). However, the other two, 16 and 18, did not fare as well.
Within a few years of arriving in Mexico, both units were involved in accidents and were parked in the deadline at Empalme. Ultimately, they were parted out to keep other units operational. While little remained of the units beyond the skeletal frame, the FNM mechanical staff couldn’t bear to see them go, so they kept them hidden from management, who might have ordered them scrapped. Unwittingly, this was the first step toward the units being saved.
ABOVE: After a brief period of public display, NKP 190 was moved to GVT’s Von Storch Shops in the Green Ridge neighborhood of Scranton on June 21. Doyle shakes hands with Chief Mechanical Officer Bill Strein shortly after its arrival. —Otto M. Vondrak photo
Coming to America
Beginning in the 1990s, American preservationists started exploring ways to bring a PA home to the U.S. Mexican officials refused to part with the two locomotives already in museums, but were willing to send the remains of 16 and 18 back north to the right home. The effort to save one was led by the late Smithsonian Curator William Withuhn, who hoped Mexican officials would agree to send one of the units to a public museum. Negotiations dragged on for years, but Withuhn finally secured an agreement by 2000.
Unfortunately, by then funds allocated for such an acquisition were no longer available. Gulf & Ohio Railways CEO Pete Claussen, Steamtown National Historic Site Engineer Seth Corwin, and preservationist and railroader Doyle McCormack, who had been seeking a PA to restore for years, all contributed significant money to close the deal. The scarred frames were loaded onto flatcars and shipped north.
ABOVE: NKP 190 and recently restored Delaware & Hudson Alco RS-3 4098 power the initial run near Moscow, Pa., on July 11. —William Sternitzke photo
Meanwhile, McCormack (perhaps best known as the caretaker of Southern Pacific 4-8-4 4449) discovered two sets of A1A trucks necessary for eventual restoration that came from a Fairbanks-Morse “Erie-Built” passenger diesel that ended up powering a welded rail train in Canada. He offered Withuhn one set in exchange for one of the shells. Withuhn accepted, and McCormack became the proud owner of what remained of one of the most famous passenger locomotives ever built….
