Atlas RS-11 or RS-3

[fwdguy]

Out of the 2 RS-11 or RS-3 by Atlas which would you choose and why?

What is the differences of use of service for both if any?

Thanks,

Mark

BN fan here!

[rrinker]

Depends on what your prototype is. The RS-11 was a newer model, but the Reading never had any. They did have tons of RS-3's though.

--Randy

[fwdguy]

Are the Atlas/Kato shells interchangeable?

On the Rs-11/Rs-3?

Mark

[orsonroy]

I like 'em both (don't tell anyone!) but would get the RS-3 over the RS-11, if I had to choose just one. There were hundreds more RS-3s made than RS-11s, making it a much more common loco. And there are still dozens of RS-3s running today.

[Anonymous]

Depends on your railroad. I model SP so the RS11 is a must, both in black widow and the grey and scarlett. The RS3 on the other hand was owned by SSW, a subsiderary of the SP, and was used for switching around passenger cars. I own one but it is not used on the layout.

[Anonymous]

The RS11 was more of a road engine,with almost double the HP of the RS3. But the RS3 was a can do every job type engine,from switching to main line work. Passenger and freight. The Greenbay and Western which was a all Alco road had a 1/2 dozen RS2's and 3's but only had 1 RS11. Because from what I was told from talking to some of the crews, the RS11 turned out not being one of the more dependable engines. While the RS3 lived along and fruitful; life on the GBW.

[cwclark]

It depends on what you want or what time period you are modeling..the RS-3's were around from the 50's to well into the early 70's and the RS-11 was from the early 60's to the 80's...the RS-3 looked more like a yard switcher like an SW1200 or an MP15 except it had that low round nose on it..the RS-11 looked more like a road service engine like a GP 35 except it had those weird indented creases on the ends of the nose...I try to model present day prototype SP (and some UP since SP was bought out by UP in '96) so that excludes the RS-3 or the RS-11 but for nostalgia's sake one of these days I'm going to purchase an RS-11 in SP Red and Scarlett ..(don't care much for the RS-3 even though i saw a lot of them)... I still remember the "Cotton Belt" RS-3's and the RS-11's that went past my house growing up by the SP tracks that went by my backyard...Chuck

[Anonymous]

The RS-3 was a 1600 hp Road Switcher built from 1949 to 1956, it had the Alco 244 engine. This engine damaged Alco's reputation for good locomotives due to its many crankshaft failures. This engine started off in mainline service and eventually ended up in yard service on a lot of railroads.

The RS-11 (482 units) was an 1800 hp Road Switcher built from 1956 to 1963 although in the last few years it was sold as an upgraded RS-36 unit (40 units). The RS-11 was built with the upgraded 251 engine which was more reliable than the old 244, but the damage had been done and Alco exited the RR market in 1969. Again it started up in mainline service and ended up as hump or yard engines.

The NKP was a major purchaser of both the RS-11 and RS-36, their engineers preferred the RS-11 units as they could outpull and outstop their EMD competion although they were rougher riders.

Rick

[nfmisso]

QUOTE: Originally posted by swdave

The RS11 was more of a road engine,with almost double the HP of the RS3. But the RS3 was a can do every job type engine,from switching to main line work. Passenger and freight. The Greenbay and Western which was a all Alco road had a 1/2 dozen RS2's and 3's but only had 1 RS11. Because from what I was told from talking to some of the crews, the RS11 turned out not being one of the more dependable engines. While the RS3 lived along and fruitful; life on the GBW.

Dave;
1800 hp (RS11) is nowhere near double 1600 hp (RS3).

[nfmisso]

QUOTE: Originally posted by fwdguy

Are the Atlas/Kato shells interchangeable?

On the Rs-11/Rs-3?

Mark

Mark;

On the early Altas/Kato models, yes. On the more recent Atlas Classic series, no; because Atlas corrected the frame length for the RS11.

[Paul3]

fwdguy wrote:

QUOTE: Out of the 2 RS-11 or RS-3 by Atlas which would you choose and why?

The new RS-11 model is more accurate than the RS-3 model. The Atlas RS-3 has numerous issues, such as the cab being in the wrong place, the tapered stack, the non-curved grabirons, etc. The new RS-11 doesn't have those kinds of problems, and in that respect, is a better model to own.

QUOTE: What is the differences of use of service for both if any?

Depends on the road. On the New Haven, the 45 RS-3's were truly universal, "go anywhere, do anything" locos. The only exceptions were they weren't often used on crack passenger trains or in yard service (since the NH had plenty of each, for the most part). However, the RS-3's had the ability to do it all, they were just usually assigned to freight and local passenger service.

The 15 RS-11's on the NH were originally used on crack passenger trains and freights, but due to quality control issues at Alco, the combined water/fuel tanks leaked into each other. This caused them to lose their steam gen. equipment fairly early and become freight only.

jesionowski wrote:

QUOTE: The RS-3 was a 1600 hp Road Switcher built from 1949 to 1956, it had the Alco 244 engine. This engine damaged Alco's reputation for good locomotives due to its many crankshaft failures.

That was only a problem with RR's that didn't maintain them. In the NH's experience, they only suffered one crankshaft failure on 140 244-equipped Alcos (RS-2's, RS-3's, PA's, FA's, FB's) because the bearings were mis-aligned (according to an article in the NHRHTA's "Shoreliner" magazine). The NH ran a Spectro analysis on the crankcase oil every time a loco came into the shop. The sample would be taken first thing in the morning, with results by noon. If it came back with traces of a particular metal (say, steel or chrome), that would indicate the problem and actions could be taken to fix it before it became a failure.

Other roads would simply run 'em and run 'em until they broke, and you just can't do that with a 244 Alco.

Paul A. Cutler III
*****************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*****************

[Sunset Limited]

What about the Life Like Proto 1000? They too came out with the RS-11. I just purchased one last week (did'nt expect much, so I thought, it's not a proto 2000). But when I put it on the test track, I was impressed! Slow speed and great detailing! ( I can't believe this is not a proto 2000). I liked it so much, i just purchased another one! Since your a BN fan, the best part of that is the mixture of merged railroads during the early BN years. So It would depends on your time period, location, unless its a fictitious location and most of all 'What you really like'. I model SP during the 60's, so the RS-11's is a must, I have steam locomtives also. They were'nt used during that time, but I love steam also and can go back in time by changing a few things on my future layout.

[rrinker]

The difference between Proto1000 and Proto2000 seems to be in two places. One is the detailing on the shell, and the other is in the wiring. I have a DL109, the shell detailing is great, but not quite as much of the little extra pieces as on Proto2000 locos. Underneath, the motor and drivetrain are the same as the P2K, but it lacks the circuit board with DCC plug, so a decoder has to be hard wired in. No big deal.

--Randy

[monkeyman2]

RS3's!!!!!!!!I like there looks more than a RS11 and theres 1 running clost to me!

[Paul3]

EZamora wrote:

QUOTE: What about the Life Like Proto 1000? They too came out with the RS-11.

That model has it's own problems. The hoods are too short (or the cab is too tall, whichever), resulting in a model that doesn't quite look right. And where did that exhaust stack come from? They also included radio antennas and cab shade holes on all models, which is hardly correct. Oh, the detail is nice and all, but give me a new Atlas before P1K.

rrinker wrote:

QUOTE: The difference between Proto1000 and Proto2000 seems to be in two places. One is the detailing on the shell, and the other is in the wiring. I have a DL109, the shell detailing is great, but not quite as much of the little extra pieces as on Proto2000 locos.

Actually, that's not it these days. Detail used to make the difference, but look at the P1K RS-11... What it actually makes the difference is the fidelity to protoype. For example, the P2K NH GP9 had steam gen. equipment and dynamic brakes, just like the real ones. However, all P1K RS-11's had no steam gen. and dynamics, which is not correct for NH.

In P1K, it's ok for them to be slightly wrong. That is not acceptable in P2K.

Paul A. Cutler III
*****************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*****************

[rrinker]

I'll give you P2K's being CLOSER than P1K. But not right on. The horns on allmy Reading GP-7's is in the wrong place (at least it's the correct type of horn, the Atlas GP-7's put a single note honker in the wrong place).
OK, I am picking nits - nits that I probably won't even bother to correct, it's close enough for me.
Although I am still trying to find photo proof that the way they did their Lehigh Valley 50' Auto cars (black roof, body colored roofwalk) is correct. [:D]

--Randy

[METRO]

I'd take the RS-3 and in fact I will pick up a few probably this summer. RS-3s were used on a few roads in commuter service (RI, Jersey and EL come to mind)

I intend to use mine for local commuter service within the major city on my line. RS-11s were known much more for their freight service (although I'm sure someone knows of somewhere they were used in passenger service)

Also the RS-3 was much more popular and were prototypical for both the CP and CN (which are the major railroads going through my layout)

~METRO

[Anonymous]

Though technically an RS-36 the NKP received two units 875 & 876 for use in replacing their worn out PA-1's. The 875 pulled the last passenger train scheduled on the NKP after the N&W merger.

Rick