went to the hobbyshop the other day and bought a roundhouse products alco rs3 it is painted up as an amtrak and it is a powered kit form unit. got it for $49 and i noticed that it has no lights!does anybody know about these yints?are they any good?
anybody
What scale is this. HO? Unfortunately, I know nothing of the Roundhouse diesel locomotives. However, if they are like the freight cars and steam locomotives they should be fairly easy add head lights to, and they should run about the same as an Athearn Blue box loco. It might have been better to post that you were looking to purchase before hand. Had we known you were looking, we could have probably rounded up an Atlas RS3 for about the same price. They are exquisite running models.
And you know, Trainworld in NY still has Alco S-1s for $30 and $40 depending on the road name you want.
http://www.trainworld.com/lifelike/lifelike_proto.htm About 3/4 the way down.
This is the old MDC/Roundhouse RS3 - They basically used Athearn drive parts(at least one version). Athearn/Horizon bought MDC a while back and merged them into Athearn. Athearn has re-released an improved RS3 in the past 6 months(RTR Line).
What you have is about a 20 year old technology engine. I have one I picked up with some used stuff a few years ago. It can be made into a good running engine with some work. 20 years ago ‘no lights’ or the Athearn ‘bonfire’ lighting was the norm… About the same time the Atlas RS3 made it’s appearance and changed the ‘benchmark’ for plastic diesels…
Jim
I have one of these engines. The drive is similar to that inside an Athearn GP7. Mine has lights, but I think the previous owner added them. Eventually, I plan on installing a circuit for directional lighting. That’s if I ever finish converting it into a PC RS3m 
Anyway, it’s a good runner, and I haven’t had problems with it. It is a bit noisy, but I think that’s because it’s never been run. As the miles pile on, that should go away.
First a bit of a history lesson.
Around 1980, Atlas, MDC/Roundhouse and Stewart all introduced HO scale models of the Alco RS3 - at the same show. The Atlas model was made by Kato, and set new standards for operation. It was a quantum leap in performance. The MDC/Roundhouse model has the most accurate shell, and originally used an Athearn motor, and copies of Athearn trucks, but with 21:1 gearing, instead of the 12:1 Athearn uses. The Stewart model used a standard Athearn drivertrain. The Stewart shell is composed of multiple components molded “flat” - no side pulls, and is the most flexible for modifying.
Later, MDC/Roundhouse changed to a Life Like P2K chassis, very similar to (if not exactly the same as) the LL P2K FA2. This provides performance in the same league as the Atlas model, with a more accurate shell.
Since Horizon purchased MDC/Roundhouse; they have updated the shell tooling, and created yet another chassis/drivertrain for it, and re-released it as an Athearn R-T-R model.
And now some comments:
If you got the version with the P2K drivetrain, you did OK. The versions with the P2K drivetrain have a groove in the flywheel on the long hood end, which you can see from the underside of the model. This groove does nothing in the RS3 model, in the FA-2 model, it was used to drive the cooling fan via an o-ring.
If you got one with the 21:1 gears; take it back. They go for under $20 on ebay.
You don’t want to know what I paid for my MDC with P2K drive. Under $18. A local shop was having a closeout sale selling for only 10% over his cost. A car kit I picked up at the same time cost more than the powered RS-3. It runs beautifully, and I was able to score a set of Run8 windows for it.
–Randy
nfmisso is exactly right. The later MDC version also had a much more correct fuel tank. They also didn’t have window glass & lenses up until just before they merged with Horizon. If you have trouble with the plastic hanrail stantions, they can be substituted by an all brass set made for the MDC unit by Smokey Valley (see Walthers). Window glass is also availble from Run8 (vacuformed) and Laserkit (AMB) (laser cut acrylic).
The best RS-3 was not mentioned, the Hobbytown RS-3:
Especially the ones with the drive train that had a centrifugal (or was it centripetal) clutch.
ok guys,my locomotives tank looks like jay’s and it says on the box “new and improved power chassis”