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Photographer: "95Wombat"
Taken: June 19, 2011
Caption: "Alco's Last Gasp"
Additional Description: The last bit of Building 62 in the old ALCo locomotive complex in Schenectady, N.Y.

For 17 years I’ve been driving past this on the way to work, and each year the words “American Locomotive” have been a bit more faded. Finally this morning, the sign came down.

Building 62 stretched almost a thousand feet, and was one of the longest factory structures in the world when completed in the early 1900s. Old photos make it look like a beehive inside, with workers swarming around a floor crowded with locomotives that rail buffs now call classics.

Alco went out of business over 40 years ago, and its old factory was a mess even before demolition started. Once everything is cleaned up, and once somebody comes up with $200 million, a new residential/business community is to be built here.

June 19, 2011 - "95wombat"
Submitted: July 27, 2011, by Howard C. Ohlhous of Duanesburg, New York.
Database Locator Identification Number: p164355
File Size: 0.995 Megabytes

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