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ALCO 539T

ALCO 539T
Several Alco 539T engines in various states of completion rest at an aggregate facility in Orlando, Florida.

The Alco 539T is a diesel prime mover design built by the American Locomotive Company. This engine was also used as a stationary powerplant, used in pipeline pumping stations, tugboats and dredges. It began as a straight-six, four-stroke design in a cast block which produced from 810 to. The engine has a bore (cylinder diameter) of 12.5 in, and a stroke of 13 in. The 539 engine was built at Alco's Auburn, New York engine plant and later starting in September 1949 in Canada. The 539T was equipped with the Buchi turbocharger, being made under license by the Elliott Manufacturing Company of Jeannette, Pennsylvania. The first 539T engines were used in S-2 switchers and DL-105 passenger locomotives built in September 1940. Alco locomotives using this engine include the S-2, S-4, RS-1, RSC-1, RSD-1, DL-105, DL-107, DL-108, DL-109, and DL-110. MLW locomotives using this engine include the S-2, S-4, S-7, S-12, RS-1, and RSC-13.

The non-turbocharged version of this engine was known as the Alco 539, and typically put out a lower horsepower rating around 660hp. It was used in lower-powered switching units such as the S1, S3, S10 and S11.

An eight-cylinder inline version of the 539T was developed by Alco. This diesel engine developed from 1080 to. It was never used in a locomotive, but a twin bank V8 had been planned to be used in an early version of the “Black Maria” DL-202/DL-203 in response to EMD's FT locomotive. The inline 8-539T was used in stationary and marine applications.

Development history

The 539 engine was developed in response to the perceived drawback that Alco's line of diesel switchers had a restricted field of vision because of the high hood. Both Baldwin and EMC were offering diesel switchers with a lower engine hood that the trainmen could see over. The 539 engine was developed from the 538 engine, both had the same cylinder dimensions. The engine base of the 538 was flat and rode on a flat underframe. The change that the 539 offered was to lower the base of the engine into the frame. This was done with revised mounting lugs and a modified oil pan. The modified 538 became known as the 539 and the change allowed the engine hood to be lowered by 27 in.

A very similar engine developed for the United States Navy was the 540T. This engine used a welded block. The welded construction was required because the specified shock tolerance requirements prohibit the use of cast blocks. The Navy 540 was used in patrol boats, mine sweepers, mine layers, and tug boats:

  • 30 of 123 s
    • Two 855hp ALCO 539 diesel engines, Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts.
  • 9 of 95 s
    • Two 1,559hp ALCO 539, Westinghouse single reduction gear

Variations

NameEngineMaxPowerPowerIntroducedLocomotive(s)PowerplantsNotes:
539TL6title=Alco S-2 and S-4 Data Sheeturl=https://www.thedieselshop.us/DataS2S4m.HTMLaccess-date=2025-07-07website=www.thedieselshop.us}}1000750September 1940ALCO:Pipeline pumping stations, tugboats and dredgesHeavily used on the US s.
540TL67401000750???N/APatrol boats, mine sweepers, mine layers, and tug boats

References

  • Close examination of actual engine blocks.
  • Steinbrenner, Richard T. (2003). The American Locomotive Company: A Centennial Remembrance. On Track Publishers LLC, New Brunswick, NJ. .

References

  1. see Admirable-class page for references
  2. "Alco S-2 and S-4 Data Sheet".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

diesel-locomotive-engines alco-locomotives diesel-engines-by-model diesel-engines-by-maker
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