Neha Patil (Editor)

ALCO RS 1

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Power type
  
Diesel-electric

Total produced
  
469

Model
  
RS-1

AAR wheel arr.
  
B-B

ALCO RS-1

Builder
  
American Locomotive Company Montreal Locomotive Works

Build date
  
March 1941 – March 1960

The ALCO RS-1 was a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by Alco-GE between 1941 and 1953 and the American Locomotive Company from 1953 to 1960. The Montreal Locomotive Works built three RS-1s in 1954. This model has the distinction of having the longest production run of any diesel locomotive for the North American market. The RS-1 was in production for 19 years from the first unit Rock Island #748 in March 1941 to the last unit National of Mexico #5663 in March 1960.

The hood unit configuration of the RS-1 pioneered the road switcher type of diesel locomotive, beginning the move away from the carbody units which featured on most diesel locomotives before then. Most North American locomotives built since have followed this basic design. In 1940, the Rock Island Railroad approached ALCO about building a locomotive for both road and switching service.

The first thirteen production locomotives were requisitioned by the US Army, the five railroads affected had to wait while replacements were manufactured. The requisitioned RS-1s were remanufactured by ALCO into six axle RSD-1s for use on the Trans Iranian Railroad to supply the Soviet Union during World War Two.

Preservation

Several examples exist at tourist railways and railway museums, including:

  • Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad's RS-1 purchased in 1951 by the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad as #1002, sold to the Calumet & Hecla Railroad in 1967 as #205. Later purchased by Continental Grain Company, Marshalltown, IA circa 1975. Donated to the Iowa Railroad Historical Society, Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad in 1996, painted and lettered as Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway #244.
  • Consumers Power (CPOX) 401 1951 built RS-1 #79350 former Rutland 401 spent her final years of service switching coal cars at Consumers Energy's Essexville, MI power plant on the Saginaw River the unit is now at the Saginaw Railway Museum.
  • Grand Trunk Western 1951 (last domestic RS-1 produced serial number 82356) at the Illinois Railway Museum
  • Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 745 (believed to be the oldest existing RS-1, and one of the replacements for the 13 taken by the U.S. Army) at the Louisiana Steam Train Association yard in Jefferson, LA
  • Eastman Kodak Company 9 (built as Chicago & Western Indiana 260, sold to Genesee & Wyoming in 1971 and then to EKC) is preserved at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum.
  • Green Mountain Railroad 405 (former Rutland Railway 405, serial number 79575)
  • Catskill Mountain Railroad #400 (out of service & under repair) and #401 (operating) tourist train in Kingston NY.
  • Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway #101, the only known locomotive existing from that railroad, is at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and has been restored for occasional use on the North Shore Scenic Railroad.
  • Ann Arbor Railroad #20 is owned by the Southern Michigan Railroad Society in Clinton, MI and on loan to Shepherd, MI Railroad Depot Museum and Display
  • Ann Arbor Railroad #21 is owned by the Southern Michigan Railroad Society in Clinton, MI. #21 is set to undergo cosmetic and operational repairs and a return to operational status by the end of 2015.
  • Soo Line 350 survives on display at the Whippany Railway Museum in New Jersey as Morristown & Erie 21.
  • Former Washington Terminal 57 is privately owned and in storage on the East Penn Railroad at Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
  • Great Northern 182 is on display at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish, British Columbia.
  • Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 743 is on display at the Oklahoma Railway Museum in Oklahoma City, OK.

    • References

    ALCO RS-1 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA