| Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad RSD12 1804 at Eagle Mills, Michigan on November 8, 1975, Kodachrome by J. H. Nixon, Chuck Zeiler collection. Built in April 1963 ( c/n 84293 ). the following is from the book, A Centennial Remembrance, by Richard T. Steinbrenner: The 1800 hp DL-702, RSD12 was, in effect, the six traction motor version of the RS11 and was up against EMD's 1750 hp SD9. However similar in details to the RS11, the RSD12 was bigger in every way. Its body length (over couplers ) was 58 ft. 1¾ in., 1 ft. 2 in. longer that the RS11, and was equipped with a 2000 gallon fuel tank. The Lake Superior & Ishpeming received two RSD12's from Alco in February 1957 ( #'s 1801 and 1802 ), and came back for another unit in November 1959 ( # 1803 ), and purchased the last RSD12 built by Alco in April 1963 ( # 1804 ). In 1972 the LS&I acquired six former C&O RSD12's and put four of them in its operational roster This gave the LS&I the distinction of operating the first , its No. 1850 and the last, its No. 1804, RSD12's built by Alco. The other two former C&O units were put on lease and saw years of service on the Utah Railway. Later, the West Tennessee Railroad acquired several of the former LS&I RSD12's. |