Being an ALCO RS-2 nut I am hoping that one of you guys have any or all of these article and if so, would it be possible to email it to me or snail mail it to me. I’ll gladly pay shipping and handling.
“Alco’s RS-2 Road Switcher,” Jim Hediger. Model Railroader. Oct 88, 98-99. LV 210 b&w, LV 218 b&w, NYC 8200 b&w
“Converting a Model Die Casting Alco RS-3 into an RS-2 Road Switcher,” Guilford Mack. Model Railroader. Oct 88, 96-97.
Pretty much what the title says. Mack creates 2 LV RS-2’s.
“Diesels of the Lehigh Valley,” Paul K. Withers. Diesel Era. Sept/Oct 98, 10-25+.
A general overview of LV diesel locomotives, including roster. Covers until into Conrail. Too many photos to list.
Back in 1998 my daughter (then just 9 years old), and I went to a model train show. It was hosted by several clubs and they were very friendly and the bug hit me. Well, we were in a trance while looking at their LARGE modular layout that they had in the room. This was my very first experience with non-toy train operations. And guess what engine was pulling the very long load of coal? Yep, an RS-2. I didn’t know what it was at the time but my daughter and I thought it was reeally cool looking. The guy running it told us what it was (I think it was an Atlas). Anyway, the next weekend I went to the hobby shop and bought a KATO RS-2 Canadian Pacific (for my daughter as it was a Canadian Pacific that we saw at the show). And I also bought a KATO RS-2 Union Pacific. That was eight years ago and only the CP was run for about an hour at most. The UP has never been run and both are still in the boxes they came in. I’m 50 years old now and it’s time to get these two diesels going!!! [:D]
I am probably the only person on the planet that isn’t interested in steam locomotives. []
I only asked, because it is unusual for someone to pick out an RS-2 over an RS-3 - by far the more popular engine. Most people can’t even tell the difference between the two. BTW, the Atlas, Athearn, MDC and Stewart models are all RS-3s. I believe the LL Proto unit is also an RS-3, but I’m not sure. The Kato is definitely an RS-2.
The main external differences between the two was than ALCo moved the fuel tank from under the cab (fuel filler and gauge are in the wall of the cab) and put it under the frame and moved the batteries from under the frame (the squarish boxes) to new boxes behind the cab on top of the walkway, (both RS-2s and 3s ran long hood forward). The RS-2s were 1500 hp and the RS-3s were 1600 hp, many RS-2s were upgraded to RS-3s.
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