Maine Central S4 locomotives 311–317 were equipped with multiple-unit (M.U.) controls on the cab end. Primarily assigned to yard service, they were often paired together on the Old Town Switcher, running from Bangor to the paper mill at Great Works and back.
S-4 1062 at Rigby on September 10, 1973. D.H.Hamley photo
Note that all the handrails are painted yellow, something that seems exclusive to this unit.
When first delivered, Portland Terminal’s ALCO switchers were finished in black with red and white stripes on the bonet. There were no pilot stripes and no yellow accents on the handrails at this stage. Soon after, black and white pilot stripes were introduced as part of this original paint scheme.
In later years, the pilot stripes were changed to yellow and black, giving the locomotives a slightly more visible and modern appearance. Only a few of the black switchers ever received the orange stepwell treatment, and very few carried the Portland Terminal herald on the cab before the adoption of the later “new image” scheme.
Some units showed evidence of quick repainting. For example, a yellow nose might be applied directly over the original red striping, leaving the rest of the locomotive in its earlier paint and lettering. In such cases, the cab carried the locomotive number while the full railroad name appeared on the hood. Close inspection sometimes revealed traces of the earlier striping, such as a sliver of the top red stripe still visible beneath the yellow.
All MEC and Portland Terminal switchers shared several distinctive mechanical details. Each was equipped with a box cooler mounted on the rear handrail and a sheet metal cover retrofitted over the sand traps, both characteristic features of these units in service.
A good example is PT 1062 all the handrails on this unit were painted yellow, something that appears to have been unique to 1062. The locomotive was one of three ex-D&H units, repainted by crews at the Colonie shops when purchased by Portland Terminal. Units 1061, 1062 and 1063 were all completed there, but 1062 was originally delivered without yellow handrails. They were painted later, after the locomotive sidestepped a car that had been left too close to a switch lead, bending at least four stanchions.
The “Igloo” cooler strapped to the rear handrail seen in some photographs was a replacement for the original box-type cooler used on other units
Class
No.
Built
Serial
Liveries
Notes
Photographs
Modelling
S-2
PTM 1051
Oct 1941
69565
Black with B&M style red bonnet until at least Sep 1976, yellow bonnet by May 1980.
