Rio Grande Diesel Locomotives (All-Time)

Published: November 4, 2026

The Rio Grande diesel fleet was built for yards, for the Moffat and Soldier Summit, and for a passenger train that crossed both. A 1950 renumbering gave the covered wagons four-digit numbers. The railroad is the Rio Grande page. The steam engines are a separate roster.

Rio Grande PA-1 6003 with the westbound Yampa Valley at Winter Park, Colorado, circa 1965. American-Rails.com collection.

On this page: At a glance · The first diesels · Covered wagons · Road switchers · Roster

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Denver & Rio Grande Western, reporting mark DRGW. Company page
Frames	554, each once. Switchers and the narrow-gauge Davenport, 63. Covered wagons, 152. Road locomotives, 339
First diesel	NW2 7000, builder date January 22, 1941. Renumbered 100 on September 13, 1941
Covered wagons	FT and FS, 48. F3, 12. F7, 86. F9, 6. The 1950 numbers are the same units
Largest groups	SD40T-2, 73. GP40, 43 new and 23 former Penn Central. F7, 86
Last new units	GP60s 3154–3156, May 1990, lettered Rio Grande
Not in the 554	Yard slug 25. Budd cars M1 and M2. Steam-generator cars 250–253
Steam	483 locomotives built since 1900. Roster

The first diesels

Electro-Motive built NW2 7000 on January 22, 1941, serial 1313. The Santa Fe delivered it at Pueblo on February 6, 1941, and it went to work in the yard the same day. Burnham renumbered it 100 on September 13, 1941. It is one locomotive. A seventh 44-tonner, planned as number 44, was diverted to the Navy and is not in this list.

The six General Electric 44-tonners, 38–43, and nine Baldwin VO-660s, 66–74, arrived in 1941 and 1942. Number 66, in May 1941, was the third diesel on the property. In June 1953 the railroad cut VO-660 68 down into yard slug 25 for the Grand Junction hump. The slug is not a second locomotive, and it is not one of the 554. Nineteen Alco S-2s, 101–119, followed in 1941, 1943, and 1944. An earlier Alco switcher numbered 101 was tried in 1937, was not accepted, and became Rock Island 730. It is not one of the nineteen.

Fairbanks-Morse sent three H15-44s, 150–152, in 1948, and four H10-44s, 120–123. The road’s own later switchers are ten SW1200s, 130–139, and ten SW1000s, 140–149. The SW1000s are easy to miss in an old list. Numbers 140–146, friction bearings, worked Denver. Numbers 147–149, roller bearings, worked Salt Lake City and were too stiff for the old downtown spurs. The narrow-gauge locomotive in the diesel list is Davenport-Besler 50, a 30-tonner built in May 1937 as Sumpter Valley 101, bought in December 1963 for Durango, and sold in March 1970.

Covered wagons

The freight covered wagons began as A-B-B-A sets. Sets 540–547 were coupled between the units instead of drawbarred, and Electro-Motive called that version FS. Sets 548–551 were drawbar FTs. Together they are 16 cabs and 16 boosters in the first group, and 8 cabs and 8 boosters in the second: 48 units, 1,350 horsepower each. From January through April 1950 the cabs took a fourth digit of 1 or 4, and the boosters a 2 or 3. Numbers 5401–5514 are those same 48 frames.

Three F3 sets, 552–554, order E-692, November 1946, are 6 cabs and 6 boosters. Sets 555–557, order E-956, are the transition units later called F7s: 6 cabs and 6 boosters, serials 5862–5873. Cabs 556A and 556D, and boosters 556B and 556C, were built in November 1948. The other eight of that dozen were February 1949. Sets 558–564, order E-1157, May and July 1949, added 14 cabs and 14 boosters.

The later F7s never carried a three-digit set number. Order 6093, June 1950, is 10 cabs and 10 boosters. Order 3149, June 1952, is 14 cabs and 12 boosters. The F7 total is 86. Booster 16542 was built as 5762 and renumbered 5753 on November 14, 1955, trading numbers with an F9B so the F7s and F9s would each sit in a block. That trade is two locomotives, not four. Four F7 cabs, 5641, 5691, 5721, and 5754, were sold to the Penn Central in February 1970. Seven F7 cabs and five F7 boosters went to the Alaska Railroad in May 1970.

The F9s are order 3184, September 1955: cabs 5771 and 5774, and four boosters. Number 5771 left regular Rio Grande Zephyr service on April 23, 1983, and was given to the Colorado Railroad Museum on September 9, 1996, with booster 5762.

The Alco passenger units were two A-B-A sets, 600 and 601, built in 1947 and renumbered in March 1950. Odd numbers are the cabs: 6001, 6003, 6011, 6013. Even numbers are the boosters: 6002 and 6012. Number 6003 is the PA at Winter Park with the Yampa Valley. The two boosters were rebuilt in 1965 into steam-generator cars 253 and 252. They remain in the locomotive count. The cars do not.

Road switchers

The first GP7s, October 1950, were numbered 5101–5104. Number 5104 was renumbered 5100 on November 28, 1951. A new 5104 arrived in June 1952, serial 14429, and the series ran through 5113. That is 14 GP7s. The first 5104 and 5100 are the same frame.

GP9s are 24 units in six blocks of four, not a solid 5901–5954. Five RS-3s, five SD7s, and ten SD9s filled out the 1950s road fleet. Three Krauss-Maffei ML4000 hydraulic units, 4001–4003, arrived in November 1961 and were sold to the Southern Pacific on February 6, 1964.

The second-generation list is the one the railroad is remembered by. Twenty-eight GP30s came in 1962 and 1963, then 22 GP35s, 43 GP40s, and 37 GP40-2s. GP40-2s 3129 and 3130, March 1983, replaced two wrecked Geeps. Twenty-three more GP40s, 3131–3153, were Penn Central units, order 7127, built in 1968. The Rio Grande leased them beginning November 1, 1983, and bought them on January 16, 1984. They are not a new order.

Six-motor power is five SD7s, ten SD9s, 26 SD45s, 73 SD40T-2s, and 17 SD50s. The SD40T-2s used Electro-Motive’s tunnel cooling, the arrangement that replaced the radiator spray the SD45s had carried for the same bores. The SD50s, August and September 1984, were finished for the Rio Grande at Kansas City and carried builder numbers 847022-01 through 847022-17. They had been added to a Chessie SD50 order. Three GP60s, 3154–3156, May 1990, were the last new units in Rio Grande black and orange. They were built at London, Ontario, on the end of a Southern Pacific order, and they were lettered Denver & Rio Grande Western.

Budd cars M1 and M2, the first Prospector trainsets of November 1941, went back to Budd in 1945. Steam-generator cars 250 and 251 were rebuilt in 1953 from the tenders of 4-6-6-4s 3703 and 3709. Cars 252 and 253 are the former PB units. None of those cars, and not slug 25, is inside the 554.

Roster

The quantity column sums to 554. Serial and order are separate columns. A blank order is an em dash. Later road numbers in the notes are the same frames.

Model	Numbers	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Qty	Notes
44-ton	38–43	GE	13096; 15123; 15127–15130	—	Aug. 1941, Sep. 1942	6	A planned 44 went to the Navy and is not in this list
VO-660	66–74	Baldwin	62496, 62501–62502, 64183–64184, 68185–68188	—	May–Aug. 1941	9	68 became slug 25 in June 1953. The slug is not a locomotive in this count
NW2	100	EMC	1313	—	Jan. 22, 1941	1	Built as 7000. Renumbered September 13, 1941. First diesel
S-2	101–104	Alco	69555, 69557–69559	—	Sep. 1941	4	69556 was not a Rio Grande unit
S-2	105–108	Alco	70074–70077	—	Mar.–May 1943	4	—
S-2	109–114	Alco	70183–70188	—	Sep.–Oct. 1943	6	—
S-2	115–116	Alco	70195–70196	—	Mar. 1944	2	—
S-2	117–119	Alco	72050–72052	—	May 1944	3	—
H10-44	120–123	FM	10L53, 10L54, 10L55, 10L58	—	Apr. 1948	4	—
SW1200	130–139	EMD	30016–30020, 30024–30028	4475	Dec. 1964–Jan. 1965	10	—
SW1000	140–146	EMD	32175–32180, 32313	4501	Sep.–Dec. 1966	7	Friction bearings. Denver
SW1000	147–149	EMD	33915–33917	4538	Apr.–May 1968	3	Roller bearings. Salt Lake City
H15-44	150–152	FM	15L3–15L5	—	Jan.–Feb. 1948	3	—
30-ton	50	Davenport-Besler	2245	—	May 1937	1	Ex-Sumpter Valley 101. To the Rio Grande December 1963. Narrow gauge
FT (FS)	540A/D–542A/D	EMD	1435–1440	—	Jan.–Feb. 1942	6	Coupler sets. Later 5401, 5404, 5411, 5414, 5421, 5424
FT (FS)	540B/C–542B/C	EMD	1441–1446	—	Jan.–Feb. 1942	6	Later 5402, 5403, 5412, 5413, 5422, 5423
FT (FS)	543A/D–547A/D	EMD	1892–1901	—	May–Dec. 1943	10	Later 5431 through 5474, cabs only
FT (FS)	543B/C–547B/C	EMD	1904–1913	—	May–Dec. 1943	10	Later 5432 through 5473, boosters only
FT	548A/D–551A/D	EMD	1902–1903, 2771–2776	—	Mar.–Oct. 1944	8	Drawbar sets. Later 5481, 5484, 5491, 5494, 5501, 5504, 5511, 5514
FT	548B/C–551B/C	EMD	1914–1915, 2777–2782	—	Mar.–Oct. 1944	8	Steam generators on these eight boosters. Later 5482 through 5513
F3A	552A/D–554A/D	EMD	3544–3549	E-692	Nov. 1946	6	Later 5521, 5524, 5531, 5534, 5541, 5544
F3B	552B/C–554B/C	EMD	3550–3555	E-692	Nov. 1946	6	Later 5522, 5523, 5532, 5533, 5542, 5543
F7A	555A/D–557A/D	EMD	5862–5867	E-956	Nov. 1948, Feb. 1949	6	556A and 556D are November 1948. Later 5551, 5554, 5561, 5564, 5571, 5574
F7B	555B/C–557B/C	EMD	5868–5873	E-956	Nov. 1948, Feb. 1949	6	556B and 556C are November 1948. Later 5552, 5553, 5562, 5563, 5572, 5573
F7A	558A/D–564A/D	EMD	8345–8358	E-1157	May, July 1949	14	Later 5581–5644, fourth digits 1 and 4
F7B	558B/C–564B/C	EMD	8359–8372	E-1157	May, July 1949	14	Later 5582–5643, fourth digits 2 and 3
F7A	5651, 5654, 5661, 5664, 5671, 5674, 5681, 5684, 5691, 5694	EMD	11405–11414	6093	June 1950	10	—
F7B	5652, 5653, 5662, 5663, 5672, 5673, 5682, 5683, 5692, 5693	EMD	11415–11424	6093	June 1950	10	—
F7A	5701, 5704, 5711, 5714, 5721, 5724, 5731, 5734, 5741, 5744, 5751, 5754, 5761, 5764	EMD	16517–16530	3149	June 1952	14	5751, 5754, 5761, and 5764 were helper cabs at Helper, Utah
F7B	5702, 5703, 5712, 5713, 5722, 5723, 5732, 5733, 5742, 5743, 5752, 5753	EMD	16531–16542	3149	June 1952	12	16542 built as 5762, renumbered 5753 on November 14, 1955
F9A	5771, 5774	EMD	20527–20528	3184	Sep. 1955	2	5771 to the Colorado Railroad Museum, September 9, 1996
F9B	5762, 5763, 5772, 5773	EMD	20529–20532	3184	Sep. 1955	4	5762 was built as 5753. 5772 is 20529, 5773 is 20530, 5762 is 20531, 5763 is 20532
PA-1	6001, 6003, 6011, 6013	Alco	74684–74687	—	Jan.–Apr. 1947	4	Built as 600A, 600C, 601A, 601C. Cabs. Renumbered March 1950
PB-1	6002, 6012	Alco	74702, 74703	—	Feb., Apr. 1947	2	Built as 600B and 601B. Rebuilt as steam-generator cars 253 and 252 in 1965
GP7	5100–5103	EMD	11425–11428	5034	Oct. 1950	4	5100 was built as 5104 and renumbered on November 28, 1951
GP7	5104–5108	EMD	14429–14433	5093	June 1952	5	Second 5104
GP7	5109–5113	EMD	16543–16547	5093	June 1952	5	—
RS-3	5200–5204	Alco	78895–78899	—	June 1951	5	—
GP9	5901–5904, 5911–5914, 5921–5924	EMD	20515–20526	5398	Apr.–June 1955	12	—
GP9	5931–5934, 5941–5944, 5951–5954	EMD	22068–22079	5469	July 1956	12	—
SD7	5300–5304	EMD	18124–18128	5232	May 1953	5	—
SD9	5305–5314	EMD	22808–22817	5507	July 1957	10	—
ML4000	4001–4003	Krauss-Maffei	18697–18699	—	June 1961	3	To the railroad November 1961. Sold to Southern Pacific, February 6, 1964
GP30	3001–3014	EMD	27135–27144, 27222–27224, 28043	7619	Apr. 1962–Jan. 1963	14	3001–3010 are 27135–27144. 3011–3013 are 27222–27224. 3014 is 28043
GP30	3015–3028	EMD	28044–28057	7640	Feb. 1963	14	—
GP35	3029–3036	EMD	29260–29267	7727	May–June 1964	8	—
GP35	3037–3038	EMD	29370–29371	7735	June 1964	2	—
GP35	3039–3049	EMD	29964–29973, 30022	7776	Dec. 1964–Jan. 1965	11	3049 is 30022
GP35	3050	EMD	30023	7782	Jan. 1965	1	—
GP40	3051–3062	EMD	30995–31006	7842	Jan. 1966	12	—
GP40	3063	EMD	31440	7842	Jan. 1966	1	Same order as 3051–3062
GP40	3064–3068	EMD	32170–32174	7921	Sep. 1966	5	—
GP40	3069–3080	EMD	32880–32891	7956	Feb. 1967	12	—
GP40	3081–3085	EMD	35577–35581	7201	Oct. 1969	5	—
GP40	3086–3093	EMD	38571–38578	7357	Nov. 1971	8	—
GP40-2	3094–3105	EMD	7360-01–7360-12	7360	Apr. 1972	12	—
GP40-2	3106–3115	EMD	72715-01–72715-10	72715	Dec. 1972	10	—
GP40-2	3116–3127	EMD	74635-01–74635-12	74635	Sep. 1974	12	—
GP40-2	3128	EMD	74735-01	74735	Nov. 1974	1	Replaced wrecked GP40 3063
GP40-2	3129–3130	EMD	827038-01, 827038-02	827038	Mar. 1983	2	Replaced wrecked GP30 3025 and GP40 3058
GP40	3131–3153	EMD	—	7127	1968	23	Ex-Penn Central. Leased November 1, 1983. Purchased January 16, 1984. Builder numbers are not one block
GP60	3154–3156	EMD	896043-01–896043-03	896043	May 1990	3	Last new units in Rio Grande paint. Built at London, Ontario
SD45	5315–5324	EMD	32689–32698	7951	Jan.–Feb. 1967	10	—
SD45	5325–5336	EMD	33757–33768	7085	Mar.–May 1968	12	—
SD45	5337–5340	EMD	33931–33934	7106	Mar. 1968	4	—
SD40T-2	5341–5355	EMD	74636-01–74636-15	74636	Oct. 1974	15	Tunnel cooling
SD40T-2	5356–5373	EMD	756046-01–756046-18	756046	July–Aug. 1975	18	—
SD40T-2	5374–5385	EMD	766050-01–766050-12	766050	Jan. 1977	12	—
SD40T-2	5386–5397	EMD	776098-01–776098-12	776098	Aug. 1978	12	—
SD40T-2	5398–5413	EMD	786264-01–786264-16	786264	Mar. 1980	16	—
SD50	5501–5517	EMD	847022-01–847022-17	847022	Aug.–Sep. 1984	17	Added to Chessie SD50 order 837081. 5501 and 5502 are August

Sources

Don Strack, Utah Rails, Denver & Rio Grande Western diesel roster, index and parts 1 through 5. Part 1 and part 2 were last updated August 1, 2026. Part 3 was last updated April 3, 2015. Part 4 was last updated October 15, 2024. Part 5 was last updated November 13, 2024. Each frame is listed once. The 1950 covered-wagon numbers on part 4 are the same locomotives as the as-built numbers on part 1.

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