Starting a 16 Cylinder ALCO 251C

[@jameslanning8405]

I was on the USS Spartanburg County, LST 1192... We had 6 V16 Alcos, much like this one. They were the main engines that turned the props beneath us. It was a huge amount of power for what was considered a mid sized ship. She was about the fastest ship between America and the Mediterranean. We also had 2 V12 Alcos, and 1 V8 Alco, which were all used to tuen electrical generators. I do believe all the engines shared the same heads, as well as other parts.

[@jckirby7994]

I was on Barnstable cty 1197... 80 to84

[@mikemouser3857]

Lst 1196 hole 3 2 16cyl mains 1 8cyl gen. An elect.power switch board reduction gears ,hydraulic variable pitch units on both shafts rear engine room op station,and lots of other aux.equipment for cooling and fire pumps and one more 8cyl alco generator in hole behind #3.Alot to maintain but was the cleanest in the fleet.My motto I want everything to work going across an ocean and got nothing but time to do it.Proud to have served and forget any of the bad or hard times.Old navy saying Snipes don't groove ship don't move and we proved it.

[@blahblah2557]

Used to work on these when I was in the Navy. Spent a lot of hours running, maintaining and fixing them. Had governor issues that were a pain but I got her running perfect.

[@mattlf9120]

My neighbor did the same thing during Nam on the USS Peoria.

[@arkwoo]

I was stationed on the USS Frederick for 4 years during the tail end of Vietnam. We sailed with the Peoria on a couple of WestPac tours during my time on board. I was an Engineman and my training was on these v16 Alcos and the Wabco Air-Over-Hydraulic Governor/Engine and Pitch Control System interfaces. These are big boogers.

[@chunkybuttz1226]

Same here, San Bernardino and Lamoure County.

[@GeekBoyMN]

Harlan County 83-85. Did 2 head swaps, one each on #1B and #1C mains. I didn't do it myself but the governor on #1A went bad and was replaced. Salt water pump on #1C needed a new mechanical seal, then that one went bad and we had to do that all over again.

[@SOU6900]

Wonder how many people realize that Fairbanks Morse makes parts for this engine. Another neat fact is the crawlers that NASA has are powered by Alco engines.

[@douro20]

Unfortunately they have received new Caterpillar engines...with EGR, no less...

[@Alcochaser]

@@douro20 A common half truth. Cats were indeed installed, but they are for stationary power generation for the rocket it carries. Propulsion for the crawler are still ALCo.

[@GeekBoyMN]

@@douro20 Not for the main propulsion, those are still 2 Alco 251C engines.

[@Kaegis]

Marvalous sound. Reminds me of the freight locomotives, big 80 class in NSW. I miss hearing them roar through our little town of Robertson.

[@Aaron-uf3sl]

80s have 12-251CEs

[@GeekBoyMN]

Spent many hours working on these while I was on the USS Harlan County LST-1196 in the 1980s. Lots of memories!

[@jckirby7994]

I was on the barnstable

[@pghsquid]

La Moure County here!

[@MrRjaybee]

Worked on these babies on a US Navy LST I served on in the late 1980's to early 1990's. I miss them.

[@Cnw8701]

Sounds like a cross between a roots-blown EMD 567 and a GE 7FDL!

[@johnceretto8080]

Had the pleasure of working on alco v16 on the Racine lst 1191

[@jamesshanks2614]

Nothing wrong with the old ALCO 251 series other than a little smoke if you notch up too quickly but will give you reliable power while not burning a lot of fuel. Ever since the 539T engine smoky thought they were they also were very frugal on fuel consumption which is why a lot of railroads continued to run them.

[@jamesblair8436]

Thanks, for the info! I'm mainly a EMD fan myself but am getting into Alco now.

[@brianburns7211]

I live in a suburb of Schenectady, and many of my wife’s family worked at Alco.

[@scottkinderdine3317]

I don't miss working on them... I had 6 to work on when I forward deployed on a LST.

[@heavydutyrepair64]

I love the sound of those medium speed diesel engines

[@Neptune2k4]

I absolutely love this...being a big fan of these types of engines i would like to ask if you could post more videos with this engine at different RPMs (maybe a start and stop sequence, who knows :) ). The reason i ask you is that here we had some withdrawn locomotives that used this engine but i never herd them cause i was too little at that time.Thank you!

[@Paulo-qg3md]

Em Portugal temos umas Locomotivas Alco da série 1500 / 1520, que após re-motorização, também receberam este Motor 251 C, mas versão V 12.

[@carlosrios3836]

This is the same engine VIA Rail used in the LRC 2 and 3 Great stuff

[@FL92002]

+Carlos Rios Actually, the LRC used the 16-251F. This is a 16-251C. Close enough, though.

[@aeyb701]

@@FL92002251’s also in MLW FPA4’s ex-VIA ex-ex-CN.

[@MrRjaybee]

Oh how I miss that sound!

[@ericmaclennan1412]

We still use these at Marshall space flight center.

[@09turbodiesel]

Cool video.

[@cektito87]

Wonderful Alco 251! What happens when you push the buttons and the noise changes?

[@FL92002]

It adds fuel to the cylinder so that you can hear that cylinder fire

[@BenjaminEsposti]

+FL92002 So at 4:24, that particular cylinder isn't as happy as the others? It sounds a bit different, not as much "clack" noise.

[@johndezsi6880]

cektito87 if you push the button and nothing happens the fuel pump is bad news. Yesterday changed

[@TheMrmack070]

@@johndezsi6880 Hello. aren't those injector pumps?

[@GeekBoyMN]

@@TheMrmack070 Yes and pushing the "button" in adds fuel making that cylinder "hit" harder. They are spring loaded so you can move them in and out separately from the rest of the rack. When we were underway on the night watch we would take the covers off and oil those manually.

[@FL92002]

[@carlosrios4172]

Yes you are right. cheers

[@bobbartos4616]

Tilly industries still makes parts for these Alco engines. ...

[@jamesshanks2614]

Bob Bartos Where is Tilley located and do they make 244 parts?

[@Shane-Singleton]

they're in Montreal. I'm not sure if they have 244 parts. but they have a list of available parts on their website. www.tillyindustries.com/alco-railroad.htm

[@brandonbraud64]

How many RPM she turns while at idle, and how many at hooked up?

[@heavydutyrepair64]

Probably about 900 to 1000 full throttle ,it's classed as a medium speed engine

[@GeekBoyMN]

Idle around 500, on the LST when I was in the Navy the over speed would trip at about 1100 rpm IIRC. We hardly ever ran them over 1000 other than for emergency speed during a drill.

[@jckirby7994]

930

[@Paulo-qg3md]

Adoro a ALCO.

[@Paulo-qg3md]

Excelente.

[@copokitapo]

Run 'em to death and don't worry with the cosmetics. lol. Ran the same engine on a couple of USCG boats I crewed.

[@walkie870]

same here

[@caryhuff8924]

She's a wee bit of a beastie she is....., and I love her.

[@FortyTwoAnswerToEverything]

Was the airing up sound at the beginning an air starter? I"m still learning about these.

[@GeekBoyMN]

Yes. Not sure about this tug but the 251's on the Navy LST ships had Ingersoll-Rand air starters.

[@dimisploub1697]

the MLW MX 636 in the greek organation railway to engine

[@Goofyboi2002]

I think I went deaf at the start of the video