Half of the Fleet in One Picture!!

The two Alco RS27 locomotives shown on the front of this post card represent one half of the RS27 locomotives in the Chicago & Northwestern

Railway’s fleet. The back of the post card says that they are being posed for their official portrait. In fact, the copyright on the photo belongs to the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. Later, these locomotives were sold to other railroads: one to Peabody Coal and three to the Green Bay and Western Railroad. Then, the Green Bay and Western scrapped one and sold the other two to the Minnesota Commercial Railway. Here are some of the technical details about the Alco RS27s: Production began in December of 1959; Production ended in October of 1962; They had 4 axels (B-B configuration); The horsepower was rated at 2,400 hp; The engine was Alco’s 251B, a V-16 design, with a 10, 688 cubic inch displacement; They used four GE 752 traction motors, one on each axel; The locomotive was 57 feet and 2 ½ long with a 40 foot 4 inch wheelbase; The wheels were 40 inches in diameter; It was 9 feet 11 1/8 inches wide; It could carry up to 2,000 gallons of fuel; Its tractive effort was rated at 64,200 pound;s Its top rated speed was 75 miles per hour . You can find more information about the Alco RS27 at these two websites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_RS-27 https://www.american-rails.com/640.html

The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs. AVD was started in 1964 by Carl Sturner for the sole purpose of providing railfans with sound recordings of locos and trains as well as with photochrome postcards of trackside photos. These stunning color images were taken all over the country by some well-known photographers such as David Sweetland. The history and product line of AVD can be found on the company's website at www.audiovisualdesigns.com