The ALCO RSD-5 is a

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conv ...

rated at , that rode on a pair of three-axle

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

, having a C-C wheel arrangement. Basically an upgraded version of the earlier ALCO RSD-4, and used in much the same manner as its four-axle counterpart, the

ALCO RS-3 The ALCO RS-3 is a , B-B diesel-electric locomotive manufactured from May 1950 to August 1956 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and its subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). A total of 1,418 were produced: 1,265 for American railroads, ...

, the six-motor design allowed better tractive effort at lower speeds.

Original owners

Preserved units

As of 2015, there are only two of these (unrebuilt) locomotives known to be in existence. Ex-CNW #1689, formerly owned by Gary Baloun, is currently in operation at the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...

and repainted in its original Chicago & North Western colors. The other is the former Utah Railway #306, now painted as Nickel Plate Road #324 and formerly owned by Doyle McCormack of the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation. As of September 2022, the locomotive has been repatriated to Utah and is located at the Utah State Railroad Museum awaiting a planned restoration to its Utah Railway colors. Two rebuilt RSD5s (made into RSD-12's) built for the Southern Pacific survive at the

Orange Empire Railway Museum The Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM, reporting mark OERX), formerly known as the Orange Empire Railway Museum, is a railroad museum in Perris, California, United States. It was founded in 1956 at Griffith Park in Los Angeles before movin ...

(numbers 2954 and 2958).

References

* * C-C locomotives RSD-5 Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1952 Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Standard gauge locomotives of Mexico {{diesel-loco-stub