At last after more than six years

Classic Atlas. Never gets old!

I'm happy for you, Richard!  My Jersey Central version is due to arrive tomorrow from Mr. Muffin.  Like you, I pre-ordered one of these engines when they were originally announced by Atlas "way back when".  In fact, I'm on my 3rd dealer in that time as the previous two are no longer in business!

I'm curious to know more about how well this new engine runs in an M.U. consist with your Lionel TMCC-equipped L&HR ALCo.  Are the motor speeds fairly close when you run each engine separately (i.e. not coupled together)?

Congrats and good luck with it!

I wish someone would step up and make the C430 and the C636's!. Classic Alco Century units that come in many paint schemes in the primary and secondary markets. Thay also beg for smoke too!

Alco's, of all sizes, shapes and models are special in the history of RR'ing and rightly need to be remembered on any model layout of almost any location or era.  I have Atlas's RS-1 in Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha colors and it is one sweet engine.  it will have been worth the wait!

Richard:  Are you going to revive the "0" scale automobile chronicle some time again?

Paul Fischer

CONGRATS!

But do you have other photos of that great layout!

Richard E -

I think that beats my longest wait by a good bit - It seems 3 years is my high, though the NYC R-2 electric that I have reserved at 3rd Rail (yes, even I order from them sometimes; fingers crossed...) is heading toward 3 years, maybe.

After 6 years, your RS-3 should have come pre-weathered; its already old enough.

I think I would loose interest or perhaps change tastes in six years.....LOL

How come you didn't bring it to Syracuse? Or did I miss it during my nap?

Looks great, Richard!   Maybe you could put "Atlas Trainman" in your thread title to attract specific interest!  Enjoy that.... just in time for Thanksgiving & Christmas! 

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

I wish someone would step up and make the C430 and the C636's!. Classic Alco Century units that come in many paint schemes in the primary and secondary markets. Thay also beg for smoke too!

Richard E posted:

I finally received my Atlas Trainman L&HR RS-3

It was originally ordered in June 2010

It will normally be M.U.ed to a Lionel L&HR C-420

The C-430 was a J C Penny exclusive from a few years back that I upgraded with TMCC and Railsounds.

 

The photo clearly shows a C-420. Calling it a C-430 was a typo.

One of the L&HR C-420s was wrecked being shipped for delivery.

NYC Z-MAN posted:

How come you didn't bring it to Syracuse? Or did I miss it during my nap?

Jim

GarGraves ( Gardner The Train Doctor ) delivered it to me at Syracuse.

I had forgotten that two C-420s were wrecked.

Both were returned to Alco and rebuilt.

Received my 2 L&HR RS-3s on Monday after York from Petersen in Oregon.

3rd dealer for me also.

With a few Lionel C-420s and Weaver NE Cabooses, I'm set for L&HR.

Walter M. Matuch

 I didn't wait as long as some of you guys. I'm basically a steam only guy. I do have a passion for New Haven diesels. Ordered from Mr Muffins this past summer. The one Atlas diesel I owned was a first run RS1. Nice detail but wasn't my favorite runner. I own 2 MTH Railking RS1's. Nicely done for the money. With the Trainman RS3 I was hoping for similar type detail. Seeing they are close to the same price point. Initial impressions are pretty good. Good enough detail for me and seems to sound and run well.

Great looking engines, fellows.....ENJOY!
Peter

hey you could change the thread's name to At-las after more than six years lol...

Enjoy them!

My Jersey Central RS3 arrived yesterday and I tried it out last night.  Overall, I really like it.  I did have to remove some of the wicking from the smoke unit reservoir (too much packed too tightly) to get it to smoke like an ALCo should...LOL!

IMO, it lacks a little in the engine sounds VOLUME department, especially when compared to my other TMCC/RailSounds-equipped engines (from Lionel, K-Line and AtlasO).  

I'm wondering if others share my opinion, or if it's only a problem with mine!  Richard, or anyone else that has received one of these new RS3's, how does the volume compare to your other RailSounds-equipped engines?

CNJ #1601 posted:

My Jersey Central RS3 arrived yesterday and I tried it out last night.  Overall, I really like it.  I did have to remove some of the wicking from the smoke unit reservoir (too much packed too tightly) to get it to smoke like an ALCo should...LOL!

IMO, it lacks a little in the engine sounds VOLUME department, especially when compared to my other TMCC/RailSounds-equipped engines (from Lionel, K-Line and AtlasO).  

I'm wondering if others share my opinion, or if it's only a problem with mine!  Richard, or anyone else that has received one of these new RS3's, how does the volume compare to your other RailSounds-equipped engines?

The Volume on mine is a little light but that's OK with me

I normally run with the volume around 40%

Thanks for your reply to my question, Richard.

Tom Tee posted:

Scale sound.

Some prefer actual scale sound levels.  What would be the decibel level of a prime mover sound at an  1/8 mile (13' 9" 0 scale) distance?

IMO, loud model trains  give the layout a smaller perception.  

I find reduced sound levels yield a sense of increased distance to any train on the back side of a layout.

Tom, I totally understand your opinion on this.  I don't usually run my engines at full volume either; however, I would at least like to have the ABILITY to "crank up the volume" if/ when I want to.  

It never hurts to have a higher maximum volume output at the top end.  One of the beauties of running a command-controlled model railroad is that you can always turn the engine's volume down with a touch or two of the handheld's keypad if things get too loud.

 I like this engine after running it a bit. I predominately run B&A, NYC steam in the WW2 era. I want to assemble a small fleet of first generation NH diesels to move the layout ahead a few times a year. I don't have a MTH RS3. I do have the RS1. First the MTH is somewhat heavier. Seems to have a much smaller body. Has 4 pickup rollers versus 2. I have both a Proto 2 and 3. The Atlas has good sounds. To my ear the Proto 3 has the more robust sounds.

 One huge plus to this engine for me. I run exclusively Kadee's. On my MTH I need a transition car. The couplers won't stay together. On the Atlas they will. You can even couple up to a Kadee at about 2mph. At least the 805's. My plan was to eventually fix the pilots and add Kadee's. Not a priority at the moment as I pretty much run all steam. Now I'm not so sure. The fact that this engine couples to  Kadee's has me thinking I'll leave them in place. The ability to drop a car or cars by using the remote is a plus. I know you have to manually close the coupler again. Doing that is no harder than uncoupling Kadee's with a skewer.

Atlas O will not have the the ALCo RS-3 painted in the factory in China in the Soo Line 1960's scheme, which will save me many dollars.

Andrew

Atlas made the SOO RS3 or RS-3 in N scale in 2008, but it seems unlikely in O scale.