A postcard picture of engine #315, awaiting delivery to the Green Bay Route.
| Technical data from the Alco C430 Operating Manual:
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The Green Bay Route's #315 was unique in several ways. It was one of only sixteen C-430's made by Alco, and one of the last engines made by Alco before they quit building locomotives. When it was in production the C-430 model was the most powerful 4-axle diesel-electric available from any manufacturer. This was also the last new loco purchased by the Green Bay Route -- all engines acquired from this point forward came from other railroads.
#315 rode on Alco's Hi-Adhesion trucks, designed to balance the weight on all axles and reduce wheel slipping and loss of tractive effort.
GBW #315 was delivered in February 1968. The original intent of the C-430 purchase was to have a single unit for a Whitehall Division way freight and eliminate the need to have two additional locos assigned to the Wisconsin Rapids roundhouse. Apparently a second C-430 was on order when Alco shut down operations in 1969.
The #315 was then placed in the same service as the Century 424 units on the roster -- pulling the cross-state time freights, usually in groups of three engines. It had a series of mishaps over its service life: in May 1969 it derailed after hitting a dump truck while leading an excursion train on the Kewaunee Division, an engine replacement in 1975, and a bearing failure in 1987 led to an early retirement. The locomotive is now on display at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay WI.
This engine is probably my favorite loco of the entire Green Bay Route Roster, mainly because it was the first engine that I ever got close to, when it derailed in 1969. (Although I grew up right by the line to the Kewaunee Ferry Yard, the trains went through New Franken much too fast to let me to get this close!)
Close inspection of this builder's photo and comparison to the derailment photos taken a year later reveals a couple of things. Several items were not installed by Alco, rather the were added by the Norwood shops - the eye-catching white staggered dashes along the black frame, the Green Bay Route herald on the nose, the loco number on the side of the cab, and the air horn and flasher on the cab roof.
Although builder's photos are often taken straight at the side of the loco, apparently Alco used 3/4-views for their C-430 and C-630 units -- check out the nearly identical photo composition for SCL #2011.
Other Builders Photos:
The back of the postcard reads: Alco's high horsepower, four axle Century 430 ready for delivery to the "Green Bay Route." The 3000 hp diesel electric locomotive rides on high-adhesion trucks.
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