EMD MRS-1

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 in 1952. It had multigauge trucks and a narrow loading gauge so that it could serve anywhere in the world in a war, with wheelsets that adjust between standard gauge and Indian gauge. Thirteen were built, serial numbers 15873 to 15885, at almost 500,000 dollars each, more than three times the price of a standard locomotive then. The Army wanted a locomotive for a possible European land war and gave both GM and GE a contract for a sample batch of thirteen; after testing, the Alco-built GE locomotives won and 70 more were ordered, so no further EMD units were built. Declared unneeded about 1970, the MRS-1s worked on military bases in the United States, some on the Alaska Railroad, and five are preserved, three in operating condition.