MTH Alco RS-1 Diesel...Are you happy with the engine?

Mine seems to wobble a bit more than my other diesels, but it may be a traction tire needing to be adjusted.

 

Other than that, I love it. 

 

Here is a video I made a few weeks ago:

 

Great engine for the money with unique Alco sound.  Here is the Ann Arbor RR version.  We don't get many for our local RRs.

 

Dan

I have the GTW version.A great locomotive

I don't have a PS3 version, but I do have PS2 versions in Alaska, Southern, and AC&Y.  They rank among my favorite diesels (love those Alco sounds).

 

I just wish my Weaver RS diesels (several in U.S. Army livery and equipped with ERR) had those same sounds.

I do not have a PS 3 version but my PS 2 version in Southern livery is by far the best sounding MTH diesel I have ever heard and in the top 3 of all diesels I have heard.  It runs great and the detail in unbelievable especially for an engine that retails for under $300.  A real bargain!

 

Happy railroading,

Don

The add-on detail on this loco are really great too.

 

This one could be in a purple box.

Uh, no. Immediate problem(s).

 

Mine (Gulf Mobile & Ohio - they had many) came in about 2 weeks ago ($245 - total - from Jason's), and literally 5 minutes after I got it all the lights and the smoke unit died.

Nuthin'. Still runs, sounds nice, couplers fire, loves my little Remote Commander.

 

No, I did nothing to it before the test drive; no additional smoke fluid, etc. I just

put it on the track and circled the layout a few times. The smoke/lights were just fine when I first ran it.

 

Jason offered a trade or credit, but there were no more GM&O, and I didn't want B&M - or 

to do a paint job (my Atlas RS-1 is a self-paint - before Atlas offered the GM&O RS-1...

I could go That way...but my Atlas RS-1 smoke unit died too).

 

I guess I'll try a warranty thing (been busy); gorgeous loco, but I seem to have far

less luck with diesels than steamers. Wish that I had bought the more-expensive 

Atlas version; DCS is OK, but I run TMCC 90% of the time.

 

The Alco 539 in-line-6 sounds are a bit better on the MTH loco, but not much. 

LONG ISLAND AlCo's VIDEO - 

 

https://ogrforum.com/d...nt/13256332700688165

 

It will be a regular on the layout for sure!

MTH RS1 is one of the best ...all time.  Too bad mine is an older variation without the lighted side number boards.  Will most certainly get another.  Only complaint is the funky looking sideframes...which I replaced.

I have two of them, a PS-2 version in Santa Fe "Zebra Stripe" scheme, and the new PS-3 version in LIRR.  I am very happy with both of them.

 

Stuart

I have the Soo Line version and goes arounf 0-27 curves without any hesitation.

 

I have a Ps 2 also one of my favorites.

 

Steve C.

 

Thank you everyone for your reply. I added the engine to my list of things I want to purchase at April York this year!

 

P.S. I noticed my original post was edited by the Webmaster. Sorry if I posted something I wasn't supposed to.

I have one powered in PS-2 and one dummy . It is my favorite.

Charlesp34,

 

Perhaps the nicest LIRR diesel MTH has produced.  I would not wait until York.  Get it while you can..I know that they are in short supply. A few are lingering out there...

 

Sunrise

I, too, would recommend not waiting until York to purchase it if you're really interested.  Most things these days are more or less "made to order," so there's a risk in waiting too long unless you're willing to wait for something to turn up on the secondary market.

I've got three Santa Fe RK RS-1's, two in the blue and yellow freight scheme and one "zebra" striped unit. Two are powered and one is a dummy unit. I really like them. They have separately applied grab irons, crew figures, glass in the cab windows, and really nice paint jobs.  They only thing I wished they had are cab lights. Other than that, they are first rate.

I bought this one used at a LHS...I thought it was a dummy it had a price tag of 149.99...it has PS2 and no box.

 

I have the GM&O diesel and it is terrific. I have 3 other PS-2 RS units ( Northern Pacific, Interstate, Spokane Portland & Seattle ) and the Alco sounds out of the PS-3 unit is far superior than the PS-2 units.

So what is so different about the new PS3 variation of the RS1?  My PS2 Pennsy has real 539 Alco 6 cyl./turbo sounds.   The cab chatter could be a smidge more realistic, but that's minor.  The loco looks awesome and would be even better with the new clear side number boards.  Smoke is not an issue for me.  I replaced my friction bearing, small drop equalizer sideframes for a newer, modern roller bearing set. Love to get this piece in CNJ green and pale yellow.

I have an older NYC version. It runs well and sounds great.

 

What did you replace the sideframes with?

 

Pete

D500, get MTH to fix it under warranty. You're entitled to what you paid for.

Love my new Ann Arbor.  Great sounds and strong puller!  Beautiful paint scheme.  Excellent price!

The MTH RS1 uses a friction bearing sideframe with the old pre-war drop equalizers. In a great many cases, these were replaced by the thicker post-war equalizers by those who ordered these locos when they were standard on the AAR "B" truck.  There were also a number of roads who opted for roller bearings on at least some of their RS1s...NYCS comes to mind.  I got the FA2 sideframes from Midge and swapped 'em over.  I'm going to do my next RS1 with four separate marker lights, attached to the hood end brackets, plus an aftermarket style exhaust stack.  This is one of the few non-EMD Diesels I go nutz over.

If you have a part number could you email me (in profile) with it. Alternatively were the sideframes from a Premiere of Railking FA2? TIA

 

Pete

These were the Premier FA2 sideframes off the WM FA2 set, IIRC.  they were a bolt on swap.  No number...sorry.

Wow .... love the sound of that engine!

 

I know that they used different ALCO prime movers, but did the RS-11 make a similar sound?

 

Do the Lionel Legacy RS-11's have that "ALCO" sound, or similar?

 

Thanks

Jim

The RS-11 would have a very different sound from the RS-1.  The RS-11 has "V" twelve cylinder 251 diesel engine while the RS-1 has a six cylinder in-line 539 diesel engine.  If anything, the RS-11 would sound more like the RS-3, which also had a "V" twelve cylinder 244 diesel engine.

 

Stuart

 

Here is a rs 3

They make smoke!?

Atlas has done several RS1's.
Morristown and Erie.

Adding a PS-3 smoke unit to a RailKing turned out to be a design mistake. The unit melted the LIRR RS-1 cab and caught on fire with less than an hour of run time.

Sent it for Warranty repair through Jason’s in Sept. and still don’t have an engine. Information from all involved so far has been a bunch of B.S.

Was supposed to receive a new diesel last Wed, still don’t’ have it.

As for future orders, that’s probably it for MTH.

 

Well, there has been severe weather affecting shipping. I sent 3 letters to Georgia on Dec 3 and my daughter finally got them yesterday. I even took them to the post office to make sure they have enough postage (Christmas cards).

 

Do you mind if I ask who installed the smoke unit? If you did, how is it covered by the warranty? I'm just curious because I plan to buy 3 more RailKing engines. Of course, they'll already be PS3, but I'm wondering about their service.

They came with smoke from the factory. I seldom run any of my engines with the smoke on.

 

I just got LIRR back from service...about three weeks wait. It was wobbling more than it should. They said the wheelset was not assembled properly. The re-assembled it, but it still is not great. I am going to request a new truck be sent.

Oh, your wording made it sound like PS3 was added after the fact, sorry. I probably should have gone back and reread the whole thread before I asked.

The repair guys can’t fix bad design issues which is almost always the case with MTH.

I had 2 PS3 GP-35’s there for months and they still hesitated when going over Gargraves switches when they came back still containing the latest roller assembly. Had to file and fix them myself. The new replacement coupler still opened up after it was replaced along with MTH filing the front assembly attempting to provide more clearance.

Like I said, I’m done with crappy MTH products and lack of caring about the customer.  My customer perception is that they continue to be a rinky-dink outfit.

Any time an OEM company has to file a product to fit, they have a bad design.

 

Like the wizard behind the curtain, things don’t always appear as they may be.

I like my RS-1's. Here's a few pics. I have no proto3's yet. These are all proto2. Some have smoke and some don't.Some are dummies as well. I think this is the best engine MTH has ever done. A premier engine for a railking price. Would love to see MTH do one in Penn Central with the white worms.

 I am disappointed to hear of the poor quality and the extremely slow turnaround times of repairs from MTH. I am/was getting ready to pull the trigger on a brand new ACY gp-35 from a dealer. I may have to rethink this over. Nothing makes me more mad than getting a new engine dead on arrival and finding out that turnaround is months instead of days/weeks. Meanwhile the dealer gets his money and tells you sorry but factory warranty applies. Can you stop payment from the credit card company if dealer wont refund money?

Its strange that you had problems with the smoke unit melting the shell.  I know of three other MTH RS-1 with smoke units, two with PS3 and one with PS2 with many hours of running which haven't had any problems with the smoke unit.  Yours may have been a fluke.

 

Stuart