A locomotive who's time would never come and may now be running out! The Alco MRS-1 

Shapeways has a 3D printed shell and side frames in HO that fits the Atlas RSD4/5 mechanism. I have one and it looks great.

Pacific northwest resins made some resin shells of it a couple years ago but I think he stopped making kits. Might see some on eBay from time to time

I was about to say that's about 4 feet too wide on the American track gauge

Also, the Soviet gauge was and is 5 feet or 1524 mm. This is the same gauge prevalent in the US South prior to the Civil War, and was favored by George Whistler, the American engineer hired by the Tsar to construct the Moscow to St Petersburg railway, the first trunk line in Russia. This established the standard for subsequent Russian and Soviet lines.

​@@robertprice7246Dang Typos! I do them as well!

@@fmnutThe different gauge (on purpose) also made it harder for an invading army to use the USSR's railroads against it.

@ReggieArford That was a result, not a reason for the choice. The modern Russian railway network solidified around the Saint Petersburg-Moscow railway, built in 1842. There, the Tsar established a committee to recommend technical standards for the building of Russia's first major railway. The team included devotees of Franz Anton von Gerstner, who pushed to continue the Tsarskoye Selo gauge, and engineer Pavel Melnikov and his consultant George Washington Whistler, a prominent American railway engineer. Whistler recommended 5 ft (1,524 mm) on the basis that it was cheaper to construct than 6 ft (1,829 mm) and cheaper to maintain than 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in). His advice won over the Tsar.[6][7] At the time, questions of continuity with the European network did not arise. By the time difficulties arose in connecting the Prussian railroads to the Russian ones in Warsaw in the 1850s, it was too late to change.[6]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

I thought they looked like a 45/600 class!

​@@kenfowler1980 i know ssr still has i believe 602 still in service but theres still a couple Alco 48 class still in service with PN

The NSW 45 class and SAR 600s were based on the Alco DL 541 export model. It and the similar DL 535 were derivatives of the MRS1 design, but not direct copies.

Yep. 8' 8 1/2" would be a truly wide gauge. Russians only were 5' gauge.

Brunel's broad guage GWR in Blighty was 7' 0 +1/4", and that was pretty big by any standards

Our problem with at the Pacific southwest railway museum is actually the opposite. We have 2 of the E. M.D's, which are going to be hard to restore because the wheels have been worn down and we don't have replacements, but with the Alco we believe the prime mover is still in running condition because it was taken out of service for body rust the was becoming a hazard. And if the prime mover was in need of work we have to spare 224F's sitting in the yard for it

Thanks!

A-1-A truck = two axles powered, center not powered.

Shapeways has a 3D printed shell and side frames in HO that fits the Atlas RSD4/5 mechanism. I have one and it looks great.

Yes I believe standard gauge is 4 feet which is 56 inches

@@TexasRailfan21-RailfanRyan (oy) Standard gauge: 56.5 inches or 4 feet, 8.5 inches.

@@maestromecanico597 got it I wasn’t 100% sure about the exact measurements but now I know thanks

@@TexasRailfan21-RailfanRyan I used to grill my students to memorize standard gauge. If you can remember that you can remember anything.

@@maestromecanico597 wow that’s cool that you’re a teacher I’m curious to ask if it’s a Railroad class that you teach? back in 2019 I did a six month online conductor training course for a program sponsored by BNSF called NARS which stands for national Academy of Railroad sciences on the very last week I trained with other classmates on a real railyard I passed with flying colors with a certificate of 57 hours of hands-on experience

Yep that is the one. It was "There goes a train" many scenes were shot at PSRM where we are now working to restore 2104 seen in the video.

@@Ozzy66733 if y'all managed to get her up and running again you should staged the whole event again

The miners were largely conscripted into the war effort for the most part, making the coal harder to come by even with replacement miners. Also, transportation was bad in most areas in USSR before the war, especially by land as the Germans would find out when they tried to invade over land. This meant getting the massive amounts of fuel water and coal, through deserts and wide expanses, required to run the steam engine almost impossible. Diesel locomotives were easy to keep fueled and running which is why they were utilized The locomotive that appears at 8:10 IS an alco ge mrs-1 2104 and is owned by the pacific southwester railway museum and is the subject of this video.

@@alcobufff No, it's not. That blue and yellow one, is the one from the wikipedia article. As the image notes Former Soviet Railways Да20-09 (DA20-09) on exhibit at the railway museum in former Varshavsky terminal -- Saint Petersburg, Russia. Originally built by ALCO as a model RSD-1 in 1944 and exported to the USSR. It is NOT an MRS locomotive in any way, shape, or form. It's a Lend lease locomotive. The MRS design? It wasn't designed until the 1950's. Well after Lend-Lease ended. Prior to that, the locomotives that were being shipped out? They were the USATC s160 class. A coal fired steam locomotive. And coal was not hard to come by. That reserve I mentioned, is already mined and stockpiled coal. The whole MRS design came about because, by the time Alco were approached by the government for new locomotives, they'd stopped production of steam locomotives, and instead were building diesel locomotives. By 1945, after the war had ended, and restrictions on production of 'new' designs had stopped, Alco was able to wind back its production of steam locomotives in favor of the more profitable diesel locomotives. The RS series being a highly popular design, which was making a substantial amount of money for the company.

@@KibuFox The time code you linked (8:10) takes the video to a pic of mrs-1 2104, when it was still painted brown, you have the wrong time code. As for the blue and yellow rsd-1, that is located at time code 5:10 were I DO describe it as an ALCO RSD-1 that was sent to the USSR under lend lease, NOT an MRS-1, and talk about how Joseph Stalin took a liking to the model after its performance pulling his train to the pot stand conference and its reverse engineering into the TEM type.

The reason to send the RSD-1 to Russia was because the supply route had to run from the Gulf of Hormuz via Iran and Kasachstan to the frontlines in western Russia, this is a very arid region and water supply for steam locomotives had always been a problem there, the diesels offered a much more convenient way of doing things, especially since diesel fuel was not a problem in this oil rich region.

The 244F in it still works. It was downed for rust issues. There are also two spare 244 prime movers for parts seen in the pictures during the video.

@@Ozzy66733 I was thinking long term. I can still get new parts for a 251. Not so much for a 244.

​@@maestromecanico597 I would love to locate parts for the 251 because we also have an RS-32 with a 251 that we hope to restore after this MRS

@@Ozzy66733 Fairbanks-Morse Engine owns the rights to the 251. It is still used in maritime applications as well as emergency generators for nuclear power plants (where I got my 251 cert from a retired ALCo rep). There are also many non-OEM parts available.

@@Ozzy66733 Fairbanks-Morse Engine still manufactures the 251 as it is still used in maritime vessels and emergency power in nuclear power plants. I got my 251 cert in Beloit, Wisconsin, from a retired ALCo rep. There are other non-OEM parts available from various vendors.

Correct. The pictures are from the museum. We are working to restore it.

@@Ozzy66733I rember going there when I was in kindergarten saw it on there gos a train and told mum nd dad when we whent for a holiday there we had to go there

Me too. I woukd also like to see her running once again, even with the Leslie RS5T horn and using the old USAF paint scheme.

Actually, I was referring the current condition of 2104, the MRS-1 locomotive that the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum: is trying to get back in service. Thanks for watching!

Nope! Those were just EMD's from the GMD (London Ontario) Cateloge for export. The US Army did have other Low Profile Diesels for Deployment. The SW8 was notionally deployed. There was the Davenport (designed)/Whitcomb serial #-ed/BLH (Baldwin) RS4TC, and the GE single Narrow Gauge #3000 Testbed

244

I'm referring to the vast unpopulated expanses, including deserts, that the RSD type locomotives were operating in. It was easer to keep just one fuel, diesel, then both water on coal in these cases. Thanks for watching!