Originally Posted by
theofam
But, first, I owe the collective a cleaned up bike to help determine just what the heck is this Alpha?
Yes you do!
I did some googling and found the Alpha brand "ordinary bicycle" aka penny farthing made by Birmingham Small Arms Co. way back in the early 1880's and since Raleigh swallowed most all British bicycle mfgs with their associated badges, and since Raleigh was selling Raleigh "Alpha Sport" tenspeeds as late as the 80's I think it is safe to assume your Alpha is a Raleigh three speed badged as Alpha. The hub should have a date code.