Nickel Plate Road No. 190

Nickel Plate Road No. 190 is a PA-1 type diesel locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in December 1948, originally for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) and then later to the Delaware & Hudson Railroad (D&H) as their No. 18 and classified as a PA4u type. It would later be reclassified as a PA-1 type in August 1975.
Just like with all of ALCO's PA type diesels, the ALCO 244 engine proved to be the downfall of these locomotives and led to far fewer sales than they would have liked. ALCO had rushed the PA type diesels into production in order to meet a self-proposed deadline for the product rollout, and because of this, it meant very little time for testing and troubleshooting and the PA type diesels proved to be very unreliable as a result. The PA type diesels failed to capture a marketplace that, at the time, was dominated by Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) and their more reliable E and F unit type diesels. ALCO did try to rectify the situation with a repowering program that would swap out the 244 engine with the more reliable 567C engine, but this proved to be economically unfeasible and was ultimately never done, but with the exception of a handful of PA type diesels operated by the AT&SF. Eventually, ALCO came out with the 251 engine, which was a vastly improved prime mover over the 244 engine, but unfortunately, it was not available in time for them to recover the loss of reputation caused by the unreliability of the 244 engine. By the time the ALCO 251 engine was accepted into widespread use, General Electric (GE) had ended their partnership with ALCO and stepped up to put their own diesel locomotives on the market. GE would eventually overtake ALCO in the diesel locomotive market and this led to the eventual Chapter 7 bankruptcy and tragic end of ALCO in 1969.
Other than NKP 190, four other PA units and one converted PB unit also survive into the present day. Originally built for the AT&SF, it was sold to the D&H after its retirement from passenger service on the AT&SF, numbered at the time as their No. 18. After serving several years on the D&H alongside three other former AT&SF PA units and two former New York Central RF-16 Sharknoses, the D&H sold all four of their PA units to Mexico in the midst of a roster downsizing. After spending many years in storage alongside fellow D&H PA No. 16, notable rail preservationist Doyle McCormack in partnership with the Smithsonian Institute made an effort to repatriate both damaged PAs in 2002. Their efforts were successful, and the then-truckless PAs were moved to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in Portland, OR, who are the current owners and operators of Southern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 4449 and Spokane, Portland & Seattle 4-8-4 No. 700. After sourcing trucks from a set of soon-to-be scrapped Erie-Built FM units in Canada, and the prime mover from the last surviving BCol MLW M420 B unit, efforts to restore AT&SF No. 18 began. D&H No. 16 was soon shipped off to the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, TX for restoration. Meanwhile, Doyle elected to restore his PA in Nickel Plate Road colors due to it being the first locomotive he ever got a cab ride in. As such, it was decided that AT&SF No. 18 would be restored as NKP 190. After finishing its lengthy cosmetic restoration in Portland, OR, in May 2014, it was moved to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC to participate in their Streamliners Galore event alongside 27 other streamlined locomotives, including Baltimore & Ohio F7 No. 722, Canadian National FPA4 No. 6789, Pennsylvania Railroad E8 Nos. 5711 and 5809, Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611, Southern Railway E8 No. 6900 and FP7 No. 6133, Union Pacific E9 No. 949, and several others. After its time at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, it was moved back to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center where it resided on indoor static display until 2023.
On March 2, 2023, it was announced that NKP 190 has been sold by Mr. McCormack to the Genesee Valley Transportation Company, Inc. (GVT Rail System) for final restoration and excursion train operations on their Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad Company, Inc. It is worth mentioning that by the time the engine was sold, it only requires some minor electrical work to begin operating today. These 'finishing touches' are to be carried out at the GVT's shops upon the locomotive's arrival. NKP 190 is projected to make the cross-country journey from Portland, OR to Scranton, PA in the spring of 2023, soon to be operating on D&H rails for the first time in over four decades.
==See also==
*Gallery
Category:Built in 1948
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:Cab forward locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Diesel locomotives
Category:Streamlined locomotives
Category:Nickel Plate Road locomotives
Category:A1A-configured locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
Category:Six-axled diesel locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:United States
Category:ALCO locomotives
Category:Restored locomotives
Category:Delaware and Hudson locomotives
Category:ALCO diesel locomotives
Category:American diesel locomotives
Category:Preserved diesel locomotives
Category:Oregon Rail Heritage Center
Category:Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Category:ALCO PA