| CRI&P RS1 739, Des Moines, Iowa, August 1965, photographer unknown, Chuck Zeiler collection. This locomotive was built in February 1944 (c/n 71316). In the late 1930's, at the request of the Rock Island, Alco stretched the 539T switcher frame by 8 ft. 6 in. to enable a short hood to be added behind the cab to provide space for a steam generator. Alco is generally credited with introducing the first true road switcher in 1941. Over the RS1's 19 years of production (1941-1960), 611 units were produced, 412 domestic, 144 for the US Army, and 55 exports. Alco managed to produce 13 RS1's before the War Production Board (WPB) placed restrictions on all domestic locomotive builders, and Alco was restricted to locomotives of 1000 horsepower or less. Since the RS1 fell into that category, Alco was allowed to continue production, but the 13 already produced locomotives were requisitioned by the WPB (including Rock Island's four units, #'s 746-749) , the trucks were changed to a C-C three axle three motor truck designed by Jerry Blunt to cope with the rough track on their intended assignment, the Trans Iranian Railway. The EMD FT was considered for this project, but the Navy had first priority on EMD diesel prime movers, so the FT was not available in the timeframe needed. A total of 57 C-C RS1's were built by Alco for the Army and sent to Iran, but because the Mediterranean was closed off by German submarines, the RS1's sailed around Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean and then to the Persian Gulf. Alco also produced an additional 100 RS1's for the WPB for use in Russia, the first 70 were built to a wide 5 foot gauge. The first 12 ended up at the bottom of the ocean; the ship carrying them was torpedoed by the Germans. The rest were well received by the Russians, so much so that they were "reverse engineered", and the Russians produced hundreds of TE, TE1, and TE2 class locomotives. |