Built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1956 for Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) as No. 586, this locomotive continued under this number after PGE's absorption into BC Rail. Montreal Locomotive Works' designation was RS10, of which 129 were built, 8 going to the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, later to become BC Rail. Of the 8, their road numbers were 579 to 586, meaning this must have been the last of the type to go to PGE.
Rusting badly and with paint peeling, it's about time old 586 got a bit of TLC and elbow grease.
The Montreal Locomotive Works RS-10 was a 1,600 horsepower (1,200 kW) road switcher built for the Canadian market. It was essentially an ALCO RS-3 in a redesigned car body. It retained the RS-3's 12-cylinder Alco 244 engine. MLW built 129 of these locomotives before the model was replaced by the MLW RS-18.
From Wiki
586 LOCOMOTIVE
Diesel-Electric Work Horse
This locomotive was built in 1956 by Montreal Locomotive Works, a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company. The 586 is a model RS-10 diesel-electric. Classed as a 'road-switcher. it has a V12 4-stroke 1600 hp diesel engine and a gross weight of 108 tonnes. It was purchased new by the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, painted orange with a green stripe, and worked the entire length of the railroad. When the railroad changed its name to the British Columbia Railway, this locomotive and others like it, were downgraded to work service yards.
This unit was retired by BC Rail and acquired by the Museum in the late 1980s.
Montreal Locomotive Works
Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer which existed under several names from 1883–1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For a number of years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company. MLW’s headquarters and manufacturing facilities were located in Montreal, Quebec.
The “Locomotive and Machine Company of Montreal Limited” was created in 1883, producing primarily for the growing domestic market. The American Locomotive Company (ALCO) purchased it in 1904 to tap into the Canadian market with its emerging designs. The Montreal subsidiary was renamed Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) several years later. MLW became an exclusive ALCO design shop and acquired a substantial portion of the Canadian steam locomotive market.
MLW grew substantially during the Second World War when its plant facilities were converted primarily to fabricating materiel for the Commonwealth/Allied war effort (largely by a female workforce), including the Ram tank and the Sexton self-propelled gun.
Following the Second World War, MLW and other locomotive builders reverted to building locomotives. MLW's parent, ALCO found itself in financial difficulty in 1964 and was purchased by Worthington Corporation. At that time MLW was renamed MLW-Worthington and continued much as before.
In 1975, the emerging Quebec-based industrial conglomerate Bombardier purchased a majority stake in MLW. In a 1985 corporate reorganization, Bombardier removed itself from manufacturing locomotives and concentrated on producing passenger train rolling stock, as well as aircraft, in addition to its recreational products. The dormant MLW plant was sold to General Electric in 1988. GE closed the MLW manufacturing plant in 1993.
From Preserved Tanks