EMD MRS-1

EMD MRS-1

MRS-1 #1813 on the Heber Valley Railroad

Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division Serial number 15873–15885 Model MRS-1 Build date March 1952 – June 1952 Total produced 13

Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR C-C  • UIC Co'Co' Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) Trucks custom-design 3-axle multi-gauge trucks Wheel diameter 40 in (1,016 mm) Wheelbase (truck) 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) (locomotive) 44 ft 2 in (13.46 m) Length 57 ft 5 in (17.50 m) Width 9 ft 8 in (2.95 m) Height 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) Axle load 40,000 lbf (180 kN) Loco weight 240,000 lb (110,000 kg) Fuel type Diesel fuel Fuel capacity With steam generator: 800 US gal (670 imp gal; 3,000 L) No steam generator:1,600 US gal (1,300 imp gal; 6,100 L) Water cap For steam generator: 800 US gal (670 imp gal; 3,000 L) if fitted Fuel consumption Road average: 50 gal/h (190 L/h) Full load: 95 gal/h (79 imp gal/h; 360 L/h) Idle: 3.5 gal/h (2.9 imp gal/h; 13 L/h) Prime mover EMD 16-567B Engine type 2-stroke diesel Aspiration Roots blower Displacement 9,072 cu in (148.66 L) Alternator 3-phase 149 V AC, 80 kW (110 hp) Traction motors 600 V DC Cylinders V16 Cylinder size 8 1⁄2 in × 10 in (216 mm × 254 mm) bore x stroke

Performance figures Power output 1,600 hp (1,190 kW)

The EMD MRS-1 is a type of diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for the United States Army Transportation Corps (USATC) in 1952. They were built with multigauge trucks and to a narrow loading gauge for service anywhere in the world in the event of war. Thirteen of the locomotives were built, with serial numbers 15873–15885. At almost $500,000 each in 1952 dollars, more than three times the price of a standard locomotive of the period, these were very expensive locomotives.

Declared un-needed for wartime operations in about 1970, they were then used on various military bases around the United States, with some serving on the Alaska Railroad. Five locomotives are preserved, three currently in operating condition.

The Korean War and the intensification of the Cold War at the beginning of the 1950s caused the USATC to consider what it might need for a new land war in Europe. They came up with a requirement for a locomotive capable of running on the existing tracks of a wide variety of railway systems. Key parts of the specification included adjustable-gauge trucks, compact bodywork to fit restrictive loading gauges and structure gauges, replaceable couplers to fit a variety of systems, and a power output of 1,600 hp (1,200 kW). The trucks' wheelsets adjusted between standard gauge (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm)) and Indian gauge (5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)), which encompasses the vast majority of the broad gauges in use worldwide, including those of the then Soviet Union (1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ²⁷⁄₃₂ in) Russian gauge ) and of the Iberian peninsula (Iberian gauge 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 ²¹⁄₃₂ in)).