During my tenure with the YW as the engineer on the Blue Goose, I had the "pleasure (??)" to operate the 244 for an entire season while the 19 was undergoing it's Form 4 boiler rebuild. The only thing I can say in a positive fashion about that Alco MRS1 is it moved over the rails like it was a magic carpet. Really smooth riding. But, it was at best poorly designed. What I did not like most was the breather pipe for the engine was located just in front of the cab inder the engineer's location. The fumes were awful!

Then, there was the electronics nightmare which was the main source of unreliability for the loco's operation. I recall I was turning the train around in Montague when the 244 decided it did not want to go into the forward setting. After about an hour and telephone conferences with Court Hammond (who described to me how to find the correct relay in the cabinet and what to do with it) we were able to get underway again.

The most embarrassing experience I had with the 244 was it quit running as we were crossing the Shasta River Bridge enroute to Yreka. The passengers had to walk across a muddy, cow-flop infested field to get to cars and trucks to get back to Yreka. The train was left where it stoped overnight. The problem?? Oddly enough it was simply a matter of being out of fuel. But no one thought to check that until the next day.

The final word is ... give me the 19 any day. I don't know how many times she has saved a diesel's workday. :)

Hang in there, Court!!!