The Série 1500 of the Portuguese Railways were introduced in 1948, making them amongst the first main line diesel locomotives to be used in Europe. These 12 locomotives were built in the United States by

ALCO The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locom ...

, to the constructor's type RSC-2 specification. The locomotives were purchased with assistance from

Marshall Aid The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

funds in an attempt to cut the railway's running costs, modernise the system and help alleviate Portugal's shortage of coal following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. They remained in service with CP until approximately 2000. 64 years after construction (as of 2012), some still survive with private operators and one locomotive is preserved at Portugal's

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...

Entroncamento Entroncamento () is a Portuguese municipality in district of Santarém in the Médio Tejo Subregion (''Middle Tagus'') of the Centro Region. The population in 2011 was 20,206, in an area of 13.73 km². Situated in the Ribatejo, it benefits ...

References

* ''This article's was originally based on the equivalent article on the Portuguese language Wikipedia'' {{Rolling stock of Portugal Diesel-electric locomotives of Portugal Railway locomotives introduced in 1948 ALCO locomotives A1A-A1A locomotives