Available Items

January 5, 2011 - M.T.H. Electric Trains has released our long-awaited G Gauge Alco PA-1 Diesel unit available in AA configurations as well as separately sold A and B-Units. Click on the video icon to the left to learn more about the M.T.H. RailKing One Gauge Alco PA.

The PA was Alco's glamour girl. While Electro-Motive's E-units easily beat Alco's passenger engine in terms of popularity, the PA is widely regarded as the most beautiful first-generation diesel - period. Perhaps no other locomotive looked so right at the head of the streamlined trains of the late forties and fifties that were the last hurrah of American long-distance passenger service. The 294 PA's and cabless PB's built between 1946 and 1953 powered some of America's most famous name trains, from the Pennsylvania's Broadway Limited to the New Haven's Merchants' Limited.

The muscular PA profile and its elegant nose with the characteristic grille around the headlight were designed by Ray Patten of General Electric. At the time, GE and Alco were partners in the locomotive business, with GE making the electrical equipment for all Alco diesels. While Alco would later fall by the wayside, GE went on to become America's largest locomotive builder by the early 1990's.

Under the hood of the PA beat a 16-cylinder model 244 prime mover that developed 2000 hp. Depending on their gearing, PA's could hustle a passenger consist along at up to 100 mph.

Long after all other PA's had gone to scrap, four restored ex-Santa Fe units remained in service on the Delaware & Hudson into the late 1970's. Sold to the Mexican National Railway in 1978, most of the units eventually deteriorated to junk status, although one remained operational. But in April of 2000, Doyle McCormack - who also happens to be the engineer of the restored Southern Pacific Daylight - and the Smithsonian Institution repatriated two of the junked units for rebuilding.

One of the units will be restored to Santa Fe livery for static display, while Doyle is bringing the other PA back to life in the Nickel Plate Road "Bluebird" scheme. You can follow the progress of Doyle's labor on the Web site www.nkp190.com.

Recreate the excitement of first-class passenger travel with RailKing One Gauge Alco PA locomotives and matching passenger sets. Our Proto-Sound 2.0 sound and control system brings you the authentic sounds of an Alco prime mover and station announcements for name trains of the 1940s and '50s.

Constant voltage lighting, operating remotely controlled couplers, realistic smoke and built-in locomotive speed control ensure that the RailKing One Gauge Alco PA will perform as good as she looks and sounds.
WHERE TO BUY

M.T.H.'s RailKing One Gauge Alco PA units can be ordered through any M.T.H. Authorized Retailer or by visiting www.shopmthtrains.com.