Photo by Mike Woodruff
Snowbirds 632 and 631 lead a sister in red past R Tower in Allentown, April 1973.
ALCO Century 628, Lehigh Valley Railroad Class AF-27
Unit | Delivery Date |
Mfr’s Number |
Phase | Source | Original Color Scheme |
Repaints and Dates |
Disposition |
625 | 11/65 | 3427-1 | IIB | Built for LV | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 8/73 | Renumbered CR 6721 |
626 | 11/65 | 3427-2 | IIB | Built for LV | White & Black | Never repainted | Renumbered CR 6722 |
627 | 11/65 | 3427-3 | IIB | Built for LV | White & Black | Tuscan/Yellow Stripe, 5/72; Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 2/75 | Renumbered CR 6723 |
628 | 11/65 | 3427-4 | IIB | Built for LV | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 1/74 | Renumbered CR 6724 |
629 | 11/65 | 3427-5 | IIB | Built for LV | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 9/74 | Renumbered CR 6725 |
630 | 11/65 | 3427-6 | IIB | Built for LV | White & Black | Tuscan/Yellow Stripe, 5/72; Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 2/75 | Renumbered CR 6726 |
631 | 11/65 | 3427-7 | IIB | Built for LV | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 7/74 | Renumbered CR 6727 |
632 | 01/67 | 3476-1 | IIB | Built for LV | White & Black | Never repainted | Renumbered CR 6728 |
633 | 12/67 | 84903 | I | Ex-Monon | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 10/73 | Renumbered CR 6729 |
634 | 12/67 | 84904 | I | Ex-Monon | White & Black | Never repainted | Renumbered CR 6730 |
635 | 12/67 | 84905 | I | Ex-Monon | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 3/73 | Renumbered CR 6731 |
636 | 12/67 | 84906 | I | Ex-Monon | White & Black | Never repainted | Renumbered CR 6732 |
637 | 12/67 | 84907 | I | Ex-Monon | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 12/72 | Renumbered CR 6733 |
638 | 12/67 | 84908 | I | Ex-Monon | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 3/73 | Renumbered CR 6734 |
639 | 12/67 | 84900 | I | Ex-Monon | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 6/73 | Renumbered CR 6735 |
640 | 12/67 | 84910 | I | Ex-Monon | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 12/74 | Renumbered CR 6736 |
641 | 12/67 | 84911 | I | Ex-Monon | White & Black | Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 3/74 | Renumbered CR 6737 |
Notes:
1. The ex-Monon units had two sand fillers on the short hood and a squared-off front handrail, while the units built to order for LV had only one sand filler and the more typical angled front handrails. These were options ordered by Monon, not a phase difference.
2. The Tuscan scheme on 630 was unique in that there was no black diamond logo on the nose, only white stripes. The black diamond was added when 627 was repainted, and was carried over into the Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe scheme.
References:
Steckler, Carl: Lehigh Valley Railroad Diesel Paint Schemes (1925-1976)
The Century Series: C628, by Win Cuisiner, Railroad Model Craftsman, June 1984, p.84
Phase spotting features:
Phase I – Rain shield over generator compartment air intake in long hood; two doors on right side of long hood directly below the exhaust stack are reduced height, same as doors behind them.
Phase IIB – No rain shield over air intake; two doors on right side of long hood directly below the exhaust stack are full height, same as doors ahead of them.
Photo by Gary Stuebben
LV 641, in the Cornell Red / Yellow Stripe scheme, displays four of the five features that mark it as an ex-Monon unit. Moving from the back to the front, they are:
- The end handrail is squared off at the corners.
- An oblong plate above the headlights on the rear hood covers the position of the Monon’s oscillating lights. There is another on the low hood.
- The two right side hood doors below the exhaust stack (letters H and I) are only two-thirds the height of the doors forward on the hood. This is a feature of a Phase I or Phase IIA C628. Phase IIB units have full height doors in this position.
- A rain hood covers the central air intake just behind the white flag, a feature unique to Phase I units.
Dual sand fillers on the low hood, out of sight in this view, is another feature of the ex-Monon units.
Photo by Gary Stuebben
LV 630, in the Tuscan scheme, is a Phase IIA unit with full height doors under the exhaust stack; you can see the top of the doors just above the letters H and I. There is also no rain shield over the central hood air intake. The dark streak on the lower part of the L is leaking from the air filter access door ahead of the engine air intake.
LV 626 from the Stewart C628, by Tom Haag
Photo by Tom Haag
Tom Haag chose to model 626, one of the units that was never repainted, late in its life. Note the primer showing through the LEHIGH lettering, seen in many photos of this unit. Tom used the Stewart C628, made some minor underframe modifications, and narrowed the sideframes slightly.