Arguably the handsomest locomotive ever built, the PA, with its boxy, six-foot long nose, will not be confused with any other locomotive of its era. Mounted on 15 1/2 foot wheel-base trucks, each with only two axles powered, the distinctive car body was smooth riding at any speed-a necessary quality for a passenger locomotive that could travel in excess of 100m.p.h. Alco PA locos were successors to the 539-engined DL109, a knife-nosed speedster that was equally at home on freight and passenger runs. Had W.W. II not intervened, more DLs might have been built.
 
By 1946, the 244 diesel engine had proven itself ready to be installed in top-line passenger power like the PA. The 2,000-horsepower PA was offered in both PA and cabless PB booster versions; several roads purchased both. Designed as passenger units from the get-go, these classic units were assigned to premier trains by their owners. By the late 60s, as the number of passenger runs declined, the PAs were the first to go. Some roads tried them in fast freight service, and others simply retired them. Today, only four survive in museums, two in the U.S. and one each in Mexico and Brazil.
 
*DCC Ready
 
*Powered B Units
 
*With or Without Mars Light
 
*With or Without Dynamic Brakes
 
*Flat or Angled Number Boards *2 Styles of Add-on Pilot Doors *Add-on Rooftop Numberboard
 
*Close Coupling with Working Diaphragms *Photo-Etched Radiator Screens
 
* Air or Water Cooled Exhaust Stacks
 
* 5-Pole Skew Wound Motor