Allentown & Auburn 57 is an ALCO RS-1 built in Schenectady, New York in December 1948 for the Washington Terminal Company. It was used to switch cars around in the Washington D.C. Union Station yard and was 1 of 25 RS-1s on the roster.
It was sold in January 1971 to the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad. There it pulled passenger and freight for about 3 years. In mid-1974, it was sold to the Black River & Western Railroad where it had the same duties.
In 1995, 57 was sold again, this time into private ownership. Two years later, in 1997, it had its original plain bearing trucks replaced with roller bearing trucks and leased later that year to East Penn Railway in Quakertown, Pa.
It sat in Quakertown since 2008 after it was damaged. The owner, later involved with the Allentown & Auburn, had wanted to bring it to Topton since we started as a company in 2014.
We worked on fixing 57 for years in preparation to move it, and in April 2023, the RS-1 finally arrived in Topton via East Penn Railroad, SEPTA and finally, Norfolk Southern.
We are working on bringing the RS-1 back to running condition.
