QUICK FACTS

Model: RS3 locomotive
Built: September 1952
Builder: American Locomotive Company (ALCo), Schenectady, NY
Past Railroad Owners: Delaware & Hudson, Ontario Eastern, Genesee Valley Transportation (Depew, Lancaster & Western), New York & Greenwood Lake
Current Owner: Delaware & Hudson Railway Historical Society, Inc.

Locomotive No. 4085 is an RS3 model locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCo) of Schenectady, NY, a major U.S. manufacturer of both steam and diesel locomotives from 1901 to 1969. The No. 4085 was built in September of 1952 as Delaware & Hudson Railroad No. 4085, and spent the next 28 years serving on the oldest transportation company in North America between Scranton, Binghamton, Albany, and the Canadian border.

The No. 4085 is powered by an ALCo 244-D V12 four-stroke diesel engine that produces 1,600 horsepower. The diesel turns a GE GT-581 generator that produces 600 volts DC, which is used to power four GE 752 traction motors that are mounted to each axle.

The No. 4085 was originally painted in the D&H’s famous gray and blue “lightning stripe” scheme, but in May of 1979, the No. 4085 became one of only a handful of the D&H’s fleet of 103 RS3 locomotives to receive the railroad’s solid blue paint scheme at the D&H’s Colonie, NY shops. Later in its D&H career, the No. 4085 spent most of its time assigned to the Albany, NY area.

Despite the flashy blue paint job applied just a year earlier, the locomotive was retired in December of 1980 and sold to the Ontario Eastern Railroad, where it operated between Ogdensburg and DeKalb, NY through the early 1980s. The railroad shut down in 1985 when its only major customer ceased operations, and the No. 4085 became the very first locomotive purchased by Genesee Valley Transportation, which is today the operator of several ALCo-powered short lines and regionals throughout Pennsylvania and New York. The No. 4085 served in GVT’s early locomotive lease fleet, and after 1989, it served on GVT’s Depew, Lancaster & Western Railroad between Depew and Lancaster, NY.

Still in its battered D&H blue paint, the No. 4085 was resold in 1996 to the newly-formed New York & Greenwood Lake Railway. It was moved to Suffern, NY, where it was painted in a pseudo-Erie Railroad scheme during the summer of that year. It was renumbered as NYGL No. 935, the next number following the Erie’s original fleet of identical RS3 locomotives.

The No. 935 served briefly on the NYGL’s Dundee Spur in Passaic, NJ before being moved to Port Jervis around 2007 as part of a proposed excursion train service that never materialized. The equipment was then stored idle on the Port Jervis turntable property for the next fourteen years. When the rest of the NYGL’s equipment finally departed on April 26, 2021, the No. 935 was left behind. It was ultimately acquired by the City of Port Jervis in early 2023.

On November 12, 2024, the locomotive was sold to the Delaware & Hudson Railway Historical Society. That same day, it was renumbered back to No. 4085, its original Delaware & Hudson number. The No. 4085 will be moved to the Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railway in Corinth, NY in early 2025, where it will be restored to operation and full Delaware & Hudson paint to serve in excursion service on the original Delaware & Hudson Adirondack Branch.