ACE 3000 - the initial concept for a loco to at least match contemporary diesels. Courtesy of Shaun McMahon.
American Coal Enterprises - ACE3000 et al
A very bold project to produce a steam locomotive to match the performance, in all aspects, of then contemporary North American diesel locomotives. Porta moved to the USA for this project. An excellent summary can be found on pages 363 to 412 of David Wardale's book 'The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam'. Another excellent source of information can be found on Hugh Odom's website here, here and here.
|
ACE 3000 - the initial concept for a loco to at least match contemporary diesels. Courtesy of Shaun McMahon. |
Porta was not convinced ACE3000 was the way to go and proposed a locomotive of a more traditional form at least as a first step towards something more advanced. In modern steam terminology ACE3000 can be seen as a third generation steam locomotive. Porta felt that prior to producing an third generation loco a second generation should be produced first, thus not missing out a step in the natural development process.
 |
A drawing, by Porta, of a cab-forward 2-10-2 type he proposed as an initial stage of development for ACE. Courtesy of Richard Campbell. |
C&O 4-8-4 614 was involved in a series of trials during the early stages of the ACE project, as fully recorded in David Wardale's book. 614 is owned by Ross Rowland, one of those behind ACE. See here for 614's website. Photos of the ACE test runs can be found here.