The ALCO RSD-5 was a diesel-electric locomotive of the road switcher

Road switcher

A road switcher is a type of railroad locomotive used for delivering or picking up cars outside of a railroad yard. Since the road switcher must work some distance away from a yard, it needs to be able to operate at road speeds, it must also have high-visibility while it is switching, and it must...

 type rated at 1600 hp, that rode on a pair of three-axle trucks

Bogie

A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...

, having a C-C wheel arrangement.

Basically an upgraded version of the earlier ALCO RSD-4

ALCO RSD-4

The ALCO RSD-4 was a diesel-electric locomotive of the road switcher type rated at , that rode on three-axle trucks, having an C-C wheel arrangement....

, and used in much the same manner as its four-axle counterpart, the ALCO RS-3

ALCO RS-3

The ALCO RS-3 is a 1,600 hp , B-B road switcher railroad locomotive. It was manufactured by American Locomotive Company and Montreal Locomotive Works from May 1950 to August 1956, and 1,418 were produced — 1,265 for American railroads, 98 for Canadian railroads, 48 for Brazilian and 7...

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

Original owners

Railroad	Quantity	Road numbers	Notes
American Locomotive Company American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company, often shortened to ALCO or Alco , was a builder of railroad locomotives in the United States.-Early history:...  (demonstrator)	1	1606	to ATSF 2157
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...	52	2110–2156, 2158–2162
Birmingham Southern Railroad Birmingham Southern Railroad Birmingham Southern Railroad is a subsidiary of Transtar, operator of several short-line railroad companies. The BS operates on 84 miles of track, providing switching services in the Birmingham, Alabama area.-History:...	1	160
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P...	26	5570–5595
Chicago and North Western Railway Chicago and North Western Railway The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...	10	1665–1667, 1684–1690
Central Railroad of New Jersey Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey , commonly known as the Jersey Central Lines or CNJ, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s, lasting until 1976 when it was absorbed into Conrail with the other bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States...	1	1615
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until its merger into the Soo Line Railroad on January 1, 1986. The company went through several official names...  (Milwaukee Road)	6	2150–2155	Renumbered 570–575
Pennsylvania Railroad Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....	6	8446–8451
St. Louis Southwestern Railway St. Louis Southwestern Railway The St. Louis Southwestern Railway , known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply Cotton Belt, was organized on January 15, 1891, although it had its origins in a series of short lines founded in Tyler, Texas, in 1870 that connected northeastern Texas to Arkansas and southeastern...	3	270–272
Southern Pacific Company	36	5294–5307, 5336–5339, 5445–5448, 5494–5507
Southern Pacific (Texas and New Orleans Railroad Texas and New Orleans Railroad The Texas and New Orleans Railroad is a former railroad in Texas and Louisiana. At one point the company was the largest railroad in Texas, with of trackage in 1934, but by 1961 there were only remaining when it was merged with parent company Southern Pacific.... )	24	155–176, 185–186
Utah Railway Utah Railway The Utah Railway is a class III railroad operating in Utah and Colorado, and owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc.-History:The Utah Railway Company was incorporated on January 24, 1912, with the name of Utah Coal Railway, shortened to Utah Railway in May of the same year...	1	306	to DLMX 324
Ferrocarril del Pacífico Ferrocarril del Pacífico The Ferrocarril del Pacífico is a former railroad line of Mexico that operated from Benjamín Hill, Sonora to Guadalajara, Jalisco via Mazatlán, Sinaloa. It was absorbed into Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México in 1984....	35	801–835
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, was Mexico's state owned railroad company from 1938 to 1998, and prior to 1938 a major railroad controlled by the government that linked Mexico City to the major cities of Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juárez on the U.S. border...	2	6900–6901
Total	204

Preserved units

As of 2006, there are only two of these locomotives known to be in existence. Ex-CNW #1689, owned by Gary Baloun, is currently in operation at the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad is a Class III railroad and steam-powered excursion trips through Peninsula, Ohio in the Cuyahoga Valley, primarily through the scenic Cuyahoga Valley National Park.-History:...

. The other is the former Utah Railway 306 owned by Doyle McCormack

Doyle McCormack

Doyle L. McCormack is a railroad preservationist, and is well-known among the railfan community.McCormack is a retired Union Pacific locomotive engineer who is now the president of the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, an organization working to build a permanent home for the steam locomotives...

, in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

.