ALCO boxcab

The principle of operation was the same as modern locomotives, the diesel engine driving a main generator of 600 volts DC with four traction motors, one per axle.

[1] The first ALCO boxcab switcher was outshopped in January 1931 and after a brief demonstration tour was sold to Jay Street Connecting.

The ALCO Boxcab and two end cab switchers built in early 1931 used the McIntosh & Seymour 330 engine.

This early development of end cab switchers led ALCO to build the HH series based on the McIntosh & Seymour 531 engine and using GE electrical components by mid-1931.

The earliest boxcabs were often termed "oil-electrics" to avoid the use of the German name "Diesel", unpopular after World War I.