Photo by Mike Woodruff

Snowbirds 632 and 631 lead a sister in red past R Tower in Allentown, April 1973.

ALCO Century 628, Lehigh Valley Railroad Class AF-27

Unit	Delivery Date	Mfr’s Number	Phase	Source	Original Color Scheme	Repaints and Dates	Disposition
625	11/65	3427-1	IIB	Built for LV	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 8/73	Renumbered CR 6721
626	11/65	3427-2	IIB	Built for LV	White & Black	Never repainted	Renumbered CR 6722
627	11/65	3427-3	IIB	Built for LV	White & Black	Tuscan/Yellow Stripe, 5/72; Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 2/75	Renumbered CR 6723
628	11/65	3427-4	IIB	Built for LV	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 1/74	Renumbered CR 6724
629	11/65	3427-5	IIB	Built for LV	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 9/74	Renumbered CR 6725
630	11/65	3427-6	IIB	Built for LV	White & Black	Tuscan/Yellow Stripe, 5/72; Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 2/75	Renumbered CR 6726
631	11/65	3427-7	IIB	Built for LV	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 7/74	Renumbered CR 6727
632	01/67	3476-1	IIB	Built for LV	White & Black	Never repainted	Renumbered CR 6728
633	12/67	84903	I	Ex-Monon	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 10/73	Renumbered CR 6729
634	12/67	84904	I	Ex-Monon	White & Black	Never repainted	Renumbered CR 6730
635	12/67	84905	I	Ex-Monon	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 3/73	Renumbered CR 6731
636	12/67	84906	I	Ex-Monon	White & Black	Never repainted	Renumbered CR 6732
637	12/67	84907	I	Ex-Monon	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 12/72	Renumbered CR 6733
638	12/67	84908	I	Ex-Monon	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 3/73	Renumbered CR 6734
639	12/67	84900	I	Ex-Monon	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 6/73	Renumbered CR 6735
640	12/67	84910	I	Ex-Monon	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 12/74	Renumbered CR 6736
641	12/67	84911	I	Ex-Monon	White & Black	Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe, 3/74	Renumbered CR 6737

Notes:
1. The ex-Monon units had two sand fillers on the short hood and a squared-off front handrail, while the units built to order for LV had only one sand filler and the more typical angled front handrails. These were options ordered by Monon, not a phase difference.
2. The Tuscan scheme on 630 was unique in that there was no black diamond logo on the nose, only white stripes. The black diamond was added when 627 was repainted, and was carried over into the Cornell Red/Yellow Stripe scheme.

References:
Steckler, Carl: Lehigh Valley Railroad Diesel Paint Schemes (1925-1976)
The Century Series: C628, by Win Cuisiner, Railroad Model Craftsman, June 1984, p.84

Phase spotting features:
Phase I – Rain shield over generator compartment air intake in long hood; two doors on right side of long hood directly below the exhaust stack are reduced height, same as doors behind them.
Phase IIB – No rain shield over air intake; two doors on right side of long hood directly below the exhaust stack are full height, same as doors ahead of them.

Photo by Gary Stuebben

LV 641, in the Cornell Red / Yellow Stripe scheme, displays four of the five features that mark it as an ex-Monon unit. Moving from the back to the front, they are:

1. The end handrail is squared off at the corners.
2. An oblong plate above the headlights on the rear hood covers the position of the Monon’s oscillating lights. There is another on the low hood.
3. The two right side hood doors below the exhaust stack (letters H and I) are only two-thirds the height of the doors forward on the hood. This is a feature of a Phase I or Phase IIA C628. Phase IIB units have full height doors in this position.
4. A rain hood covers the central air intake just behind the white flag, a feature unique to Phase I units.

Dual sand fillers on the low hood, out of sight in this view, is another feature of the ex-Monon units.

Photo by Gary Stuebben

LV 630, in the Tuscan scheme, is a Phase IIA unit with full height doors under the exhaust stack; you can see the top of the doors just above the letters H and I. There is also no rain shield over the central hood air intake. The dark streak on the lower part of the L is leaking from the air filter access door ahead of the engine air intake.

LV 626 from the Stewart C628, by Tom Haag

Photo by Tom Haag

Tom Haag chose to model 626, one of the units that was never repainted, late in its life. Note the primer showing through the LEHIGH lettering, seen in many photos of this unit. Tom used the Stewart C628, made some minor underframe modifications, and narrowed the sideframes slightly.