In 1948 the Alaska Railroad's first attempt at converting ALCO RSD1 locomotives
into "Streamliners" resulted in Locomotives 1050A and 1050B. In time
these units were retrucked with four wheel road trucks and renumbered as 1050
and 1051. Art Gibson caught up with these units on June 1, 1957 while they worked
on the Whittier leg of the Portage Y. Notice that the Alaska Railroad name is
above the yellow stripe near the roof line where the old style coaches had their
letter boards. Just my opinion, but these units were so homely that only a blind
parent would claim them. It would still be nice if they were around today. The
subsequent units were much more handsome and resulted in the 1070 class RFS1
locomotives.
Photo courtesy of W. A. Gibson Jr.
Commentary by Pat Durand