#3046
ALCO RSD-5
🇺🇸 United States ·built by American Locomotive Company· from 1952· Diesel-electric locomotive
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. CNW1689: Chesapeake at English Wikipedia· Public domain
- 2. Illinois Railway Museum's Alco 1954 Chicago & North Western 1689 Diesel-Electric RSD-5: Aaron headly· CC BY 4.0
what is it?
The ALCO RSD-5 is a diesel-electric locomotive rated at 1,600 horsepower (1.2 MW), that rode on a pair of three-axle trucks, 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 six-motor design allowed better tractive effort at lower speeds.
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 74 years ago, in 1952.
- 1.2 MW is about 14 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 22 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 17.1 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1952–1956
- number built
- 204
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- American Locomotive Company
- top speed
- 105 km/h
- power
- 1.2 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- C-C
- length
- 17.1 m
- weight
- 130 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4652294, Wikipedia: ALCO RSD-5 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.