by Tony Cook/photos as noted
The two largest collections of Alco C-415s resided with Rock Island (RI) and Southern Pacific (SP); each road acquired 10 units new from Alco. Rock Island’s were Order S-3451 delivered beginning in September 1966 and all 10 were in service by that November (RI 415–424). Southern Pacific bought an interesting variety of motive power from Alco in the 1960s, including the diesel-hydraulic H-643s. The 10 SP C-415s (2400–2409) were Order S-3458 and came in 1966. Both fleets would serve their original owners until the late 1970s (SP retired the last of its C-415s in 1979) and 1980 (RI’s March 1980 demise put its fleet out to pasture).
ABOVE: Rock Island 417 in June 1978. Now sporting bright red, this is the same C-415 across this page. Sadly, the road somehow missed applying its blue-and-white “The Rock” image to any C-415s! Once again, poor, aging RI motive power shares the scene with brand new units… this time a trio of Chicago Regional Transit Authority F40PHs. —Photographer unknown, Kevin EuDaly collection
ABOVE: Rock Island 419 at Blue Island, Ill., on August 22, 1971. The robustness of the ACI system may be tested by the condition of the color bars on the plate over the fuel tank. —Charles Stumpf photo, Kevin EuDaly collection
ABOVE: Southern Pacific 2406 at Tucson, Ariz., on July 5, 1975. Note on the angled section of the cab roof, SP’s C-415s included small oval vents. —Glenn Anderson photo, Kevin EuDaly collection
ABOVE: SP 2408 and 2409 at City of Industry, Calif. SP 2408, along with 2400, 2401, 2403–2408, would go on to second careers in Mexico beginning in May 1977. —Alan Miller photo, Kevin EuDaly collection
ABOVE: SP 2404 at Los Angeles in January 1979. This C-415 sits with a pair of early GE U25Bs, likely all in storage at this point. Note the typeface of the “F” denoting the unit’s front is a serif character (here and on others) versus the sans-serif “F” found on other roster members. —Russell Eslick photo, Kevin EuDaly collection
