65 Ton Switchers made by The Atlas Car and Manufacturing Company are probably somewhat rare as Atlas was a small company in comparison to its competitors, such as General Motors and General Electric. A centre cab unit, this was a common configuration for switchers of this size as the centre cab allowed for equally good (or poor) vision in either direction. Built in April of 1943, thi was originally No. 7156 when built for the U.S. Army. Today it is numbered as Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum 1990. Switchers of this size used a pair of diesel engines of around 250 horsepower, Cummins and Caterpillar engines being the most common. Each engine drove a generator which, in turn, powered an electric motor in one of the pair of two axle trucks.
Following its hitch in the Army, at the Anniston Ordnance Depot in Alabama, 1990 went to Canadian Forest Products (Canfor) in Port Mellon. Purchased by the museum in 1990, this engine is fully operational and is used by the museum to move the museum's collection of rolling stock. This would explain the engine's present designation,
Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum 1990.
PGRFM 1990 65 Ton Diesel
Built in 1943 by Atlas Car and Manufacturing Co. in Cleveland, Ohio for the US Army No. 7156 it was renumbered No. 2 by Canfor, where it was used by the Port Melon Division as a yard engine. This unit is fully operation and is used to move our ever increasing collection of rolling stock to optimum locations. It was purchased by the museum in 1990.
From the Central BC Railway and Forestry Museum
Atlas Car and Manufacturing
The Atlas Car and Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of small railroad locomotives. The company was based in Cleveland, OH, building equipment from 1896 through the 1980s.
Atlas specialized in the building of small locomotives and purpose built rail borne equipment for industrial use. The equipment it manufactured seldom ran on the rails of Class I railroads, but were often used to shuttle freight cars around inside manufacturing plants. Atlas's products ranged from small 2-ton end cab switchers up to 65-ton center cab switchers. They also built a wide variety of equipment for the steel industry including blast furnace transfer cars, scale cars, coke quench cars, coke quench locomotives (to 75 tons), furnace cars and self-propelled flatcars. While most equipment was built for steel and coke plants within the United States, some equipment was shipped outside the country (for example 5 scale cars to Russia).
From Wiki