Being my favorite non EMD Diesel, it's been hard to resist these two characters. The Atlas was first out, and originally lacked any speed control. I added EOB to my NYCS unit right away quick. My NH RS1 has speed control and runs terrific as is. Both have Alco 244 V12 sound, which is inacccurate for this locomotive. I also picked up a Suzie Q RS1 in two rail from Atlas. She lacks the sound and control gear of the two three rail models, but has awesome looks all the way around. Better speed control here was brought about by wiring the motors in series. My MTH RS1 is the first run PRR. She lacks smoke and lit number boards. Newer versions correct this oversite. The truck side frames on the MTH are not exactly correct for anything, so I subbed the FA2 side frames, without difficulty. The sound on the MTH is true 539T...and so accurate that a customer at the store thought there was something wrong with the system when we ran it on the store layout! The MTH has great running capabilities thanks to Proto 2.0. It's a given that I'll have to spring for a newer version to get the smoke and working number boards. OTOH, Atlas has some absolutely dynamite roadnames available on their RS1...enough so that they are tough to ignore. I see LOK sound has a terrific Alco 539T chip for HO RS1s, and this should be an easy install on the O gauge model, be it old or new. As for the prototype, if there ever was a Diesel that really could be considered an honorary steamer, surely this crusty, chirpy, smoking Alco is it !
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