Back in September of 1988 Ron Findley and I drove up to Chattanooga, Tennessee to ride the steam train at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM). The museum has two depots in Chattanooga. The East Chattanooga location has a turntable and shops, the Grand Junction location (the main depot) has static displays of equipment, both locomotives and cars.

At the time of our visit the museum had two ALCO model RSD-1 road switchers. The RSD-1 is a 1000 HP, six axle version of the four axle RS-1. This spread the weight of the locomotive over a larger area, helpful when running on light weight rails. Ron photographed the TVRM #8677 while it was at rest at East Chattanooga.

While the bulk of this ALCO model were built for the United States Army Transportation Corps for export to Russia during WWII, both of these units never left the United States until after the war. They eventually returned to the U.S. and were last used at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Note the angled cab walls on the unit, apparently for tight clearances on overseas railroads. While I didn’t care for the look of the cab, I did like those heavy six axle trucks . . . they add a look of muscle!