Skip to main content

Reply to "Switcher Saturday 2-4-23"

JHZ563 - Interesting photos. Thanks for posting.

It's a cold Saturday morning - about 2 degrees F at 12:40 AM.

MTH Railking New York Central “lightning stripe” ALCo RS-3 #8344 (30-20816-1) is my best-running diesel locomotive model. MTH delivered it with PS3 in November 2021 at an MSRP of $359.95. Its quality of manufacture is exceptional – with no visible defects and MTH’s excellent ALCo engine sounds.

Last Saturday, we talked about the speed control on my MTH Premier USRA 0-8-0 steam switcher. Unlike the steamer, this engine has four widely-spaced pickup rollers and the speed control keeps the speed and sounds absolutely steady in low-speed conventional operation on the switches and O-54 curves of my 10’-by-5’ layout. The engine is running at 10 scale miles-per-hour in the videos – which is as slow as I would ever run it. At that speed, if the train had completed a circuit of my layout, the video would have been too large to upload and post on the Forum.

Some people tout locomotives that can creep smoothly at less than three scale miles-per-hour - certainly an outstanding accomplishment of model engineering. However, after watching that kind of operation for a minute or two, I’m ready to advance the throttle and get the train moving. I’d rather see a fast freight or passenger train running at realistic scale speeds and hear the chuffing of a steamer or the drone of a diesel with horn or whistle blowing.

The American Locomotive Company built 1,265 RS-3 locomotives for U.S. railroads between 1950 and 1956. They weighed 247,100 pounds and had a 4-stroke V12 diesel engine that produced 1,600 horsepower with a starting tractive force of 61,775 pounds. Maximum speeds were between 65 and 85 miles-per-hour depending on gearing.

Between 1950 and 1953 the New York Central Railroad acquired 130 RS-3 locomotives with road numbers between #8223 and #8352. New York Central RS-3 #8344, class DRS-6h, was built in September/October 1953 and renumbered to NYC #5344 in 1966 in anticipation of NYC’s merger into the Penn Central Railroad.

MELGAR

MELGAR_2023_0130_01_NYC_8344_10X5_TRESTLEMELGAR_2023_0130_03_NYC_8344_10X5_TRESTLEMELGAR_2023_0130_06_NYC_8344_10X5_SS71MELGAR_2023_0130_08_NYC_8344_10X5_BRIDGE_CLOSEUPMELGAR_2023_0130_09_NYC_8344_10X5_WESTMELGAR_2023_0130_12_NYC_8344_10X5_RR_CROSSINGMELGAR_2023_0130_17_NYC_8344_10X5_DOWNTOWNMELGAR_2023_0130_19_NYC_8344_10X5_STATIONMELGAR_2023_0130_24_NYC_19654_10X5_JENKINS

Attachments

Images (9)
  • MELGAR_2023_0130_01_NYC_8344_10X5_TRESTLE
  • MELGAR_2023_0130_03_NYC_8344_10X5_TRESTLE
  • MELGAR_2023_0130_06_NYC_8344_10X5_SS71
  • MELGAR_2023_0130_08_NYC_8344_10X5_BRIDGE_CLOSEUP
  • MELGAR_2023_0130_09_NYC_8344_10X5_WEST
  • MELGAR_2023_0130_12_NYC_8344_10X5_RR_CROSSING
  • MELGAR_2023_0130_17_NYC_8344_10X5_DOWNTOWN
  • MELGAR_2023_0130_19_NYC_8344_10X5_STATION
  • MELGAR_2023_0130_24_NYC_19654_10X5_JENKINS
Videos (2)
MELGAR_2023_0130_32V_NYC_8344_10X5_SOUTH_51S
MELGAR_2023_0130_35V_NYC_8344_10X5_EAST_51S
Last edited by MELGAR

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
×