I recently purchased a Lionel Susquehanna RS3 loco on ebay. I had really been wanting a RS3 because I’ve always like the looks of them. Anyway, the loco looked like it was from the late 80’s early 90’s and looked like it was old enough to have the pullmore motors and magnatraction wheels. Well, I got it today and was horribly dissapointed to find it has the small DC motors and plastic gears, and hardly any weight to the thing. What was even more disappointing is that when I put it on the tracks, it would not run. It lit up but no power. When I opened it up I found it has an Electronic reverse unit and three wires were not connected, two black and one red. Anyway, does anyone think this could have been a rewired engine? It has the black and white box from the Kuhn era.
I’ve emailed the seller (hobby shop) to ask them how they’d like to resolve the issue about it not running. I didn’t pay too much for it thank goodness.
Prime candidate for a Electric RR mini commander and you might include sound. I’ve done two MPC engines [has the tiny can motors in the trucks] with Digital Dynamics mini commanders [before Electric RR came out with their mini’s]. Added some lead weight. They pull great and run great. Since they are TMCC, I lash them together and have even more power. Was easy to convert. Plan to do more when I get layout going better and have the time. When you get lemons, make lemonaide.
I recently bought an RS3 for my kids. It was inexpensive, and as you mentioned, it’s light, almost all plastic, and has one or two can motors. But it hauls well, coasts to a stop like a flywheel equiped loco, and has a nice horn. I was very impressed with this cheapie. Still am. Reconnect the wires and see for yourself. These aren’t bad.
I’ve got two of the RS3s of that vintage - one in NYC and the other in Milw. They don’t pull much - maybe 8 or 10 traditional cars, but get’em up to speed and they’re screamin’ demons!
If your SQ-RS3 is Silver, you have the un-cataloged locomotive made for J.C. Penny. Really for a display unit, it was shipped with a Display Case, track, engraved plate, and plastic cover.
Exploded diagram of the loco is avaialble from the Lionel web site under Customer Sevice tab. The wiring diagram for this specific loco isn’t there, but any of the other dual truck mounted can motors will have the same wiring patern. The shell casting is well done and the unit looks like an RS-3.
I have a copy of an article from the March 1998 TTOS publication (The Bulletin) that has a wiring diagram for modifying a dual motored RS-3 to series and a mod to include voltage regulators for lighting control. If you drop me an email, I will send the a pdf file of the article back to you.
My unit does happen to be Silver! I also noticed there was another silver one on Ebay like it but with a different number which was the JCPenny’s model. I don’t think this one was but I’ll need to check into it a little more. I paid $75 which isn’t too bad, it appears to never have been run. I did connect the wires but only one motor ran. The seller told me to send it back and he’d fix it. He’ll even pay for the shipping which I was very glad about. When I get it back I think I’ll add weight to the loco so it feels more stout. Thanks for all the positive comments!
These locos are not bad locos for what they were intended to be.
The R3-3’s made by Lionel through the 1980’s up to around 2000, all came with dual DC truck mounted can motors and a sheet metal frame. There was a weight that was placed in the loco inside the hollow fuel tank. Yes, these engines are light as compared to other more expensive locos… Lionel could have certainly put a larger weight inside the fuel tank. But with the traction tires properly adhered, these locos will absolutely pull more cars than Bob Keller mentions. And with some added weight attached to the frame inside the loco shell, these locos can be very good pullers. My experience in this department is similar to Carl T. wrote.
As I have mentioned many times, though you can run these locos with a ZW or TW type of transformers (as I suspect Bob K. is doing), they are best run with either a modern made transformer that starts with a zero voltage to the track, or the original Lionel 1033, using the B-U voltage posts which put 0-11 volts to the track. This is perfect voltage range for any of these non-command, truck mounted dual DC can motored locos made by Lionel all through the 1980’s and 1990’s or the basic K-Line locos like the S-2, Alco FA and the MP-15. Same goes for the DC can motored steam engines, like the basic Lionel 4-4-2 starter set Columbia.
You can rewire these dual motored diesels and make the motors run in series, but you will reduce some pulling power by doing this. But they will run slower with traditional Lionel transformers that put a minimal 6 volts to the track.
The new post 2000 Lionel RS-3 is a slightly different affair. Lionel cheaped the loco with a plastic frame instead of a sheet metal one. All of these new plastic framed RS-3’s have been cataloged with a single truck mounted motor, although a few came with dual motors despite the catalog saying the opposite: the Ontario Northland RS-3 is one that came with dual motors.
Just looked up Lionel RS-3’s on Ebay just for kicks since we were talking about it. Seems like everybody must of read about the silver ones being special cause there’s 4 or 5 on their well about 150 price range. You might not be disappointed fix it up and if you still don’t like it put it back on Ebay you make double your money.
I too have an RS-3 that I bought cheap(I bougt the TRU construction Zone set for 40 bucks).After I put in another motor and 3 -position E-unit,the plastic-framed RS-3 will haul 20-25 cars no problem.I just had to add a little weight in the fuel-tank casting.After re-painting it in NYC Lightning-Stripe Livery.the Alco is a nice addition to my loco roster.(I think I will re-do the handrails as they are too heavy for this scale.).
Well, I connected the wires with a small twist connector. When I did the first time, only one motor worked. I happened to try it the next day before I boxed it up and sent it away and WOO HOO it worked great! I ran it using a KLine 120W powerchief transformer. The sucker flies! Anyway, I’m pretty happy with it now. Just need to put some weight inside to make it better.
I sure like the look of the RS3’s. Hopefully I’ll have a couple scale locos in GN, or NP liveries. Don’t know if either railroad had them but I don’t mind.