Alco introduced the 1,800-hp RS-11 in 1956 to compete with EMD’s GP9 as a dual service freight or passenger locomotive. According to Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years (Kalmbach), Alco built 426 RS-11s for roads in the United States and Mexico. The Norfolk & Western owned the largest fleet, with 99 units. Production of RS-11s ended in 1961, and a fair number of units lasted into the 1980s.
A highly detailed shell. The real attraction of this model is in its details. The RS-11 includes factory-applied details like grab irons, lift rings, multiple-unit hoses, and more; however, the best surprise is the tiny handles on all of the hood doors! These details are neatly applied, have fine cross sections, and are either molded or painted in the proper colors.
I did find that these details are delicate and easy to damage. I broke two grab irons while removing the shell for testing, and I eventually had to cement the press-fit hand-rails into their sockets with CA (cyanoacrylate adhesive) to keep them from popping out. Despite this “fussiness,” the shell details are very cool – and I especially liked the see-through grating on the drop steps.
The body shell is attached to the chassis with the coupler boxes and by a pair of screws underneath and in front of the fuel tank.
This model represents the early RS-11, which had five evenly spaced air intake vents on the long hood. The locomotive’s dimensions closely match the prototype measurements.
Two different-size fuel tanks are used, depending upon road name. Our New York, New Haven & Hartford sample has the large 2,400- gallon split tank that carried both water and fuel for steam generator-equipped passenger RS-11s.
The model is neatly painted and decorated, though the red N in the New Haven herald is a bit heavy (but easy to hide with a little weathering). The bright red grab irons contrast nicely with the black shell.
Life-Like’s single-page instruction sheet includes an exploded isometric drawing of the model, a parts list, and directions for shell removal, mounting couplers, and maintenance of the mechanism.
Under the shell, the locomotive has a five-pole, skew-wound motor and dual brass flywheels mounted on a zinc-alloy chassis. A small printed-circuit board above the motor controls the directional lighting and includes seven soldering pads for installation of a Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder. Part of this work requires cutting three traces marked on the board.
An easier approach to adding DCC to the model would be to replace the circuit board with an Atlas-style drop-in decoder board. I tried both Atlas and NCE drop-in decoders, and they fit just fine. The wiring is done with solderless plastic clips, so installing a decoder took only about 10 minutes. Be sure to cover the circuit board’s mounting post with a small piece of electrical tape to keep the decoder from shorting against the frame. You’ll also need to replace the original headlight lamps with 12-volt bulbs.
The model runs smoothly through most of its speed range, though I had a hard time getting it to perform reliably at very low speeds (less than three scale miles-per-hour.) Depending upon the gearing, prototype RS-11s had a top speed of 65 to 75 mph, which our model reached at about 9 volts.
With a drawbar pull of 2.72 ounces, the RS-11 should haul approximately 38 cars on straight and level track. However, on our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy (MR’s club layout) I found the pulling power dropped to only seven cars on our 3 percent grade. The lack of traction seemed to be related to the slippery plating on the drivers because the drawbar pull improved after additional running wore some of the plating off the wheel treads.
The bottom line? Life-Like’s Alco RS-11 is a nice-looking first-generation diesel. Though the model doesn’t seem cut out for mountain climbing, it’ll look great in less strenuous roles or mixed in an engine consist with other Alcos.
Price: $95.00
Manufacturer:
Life-Like Products Inc.
1600 Union Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21211-1998
www.lifelikeproducts.com
Description:
Plastic and metal ready-to-run
diesel locomotive
Features:
Blackened nickel-silver RP-25
wheels, all correctly
gauged
Directional constant headlight
Drawbar pull: 2.72 ounces
(38 free-rolling cars on straight
and level track)
Engine weight: 11.9 ounces
Five-pole skew-wound
motor
Minimum radius: 18″
Sunshades
Road Names:
New York, New Haven &
Hartford; Burlington Northern,
Delaware & Hudson;
Louisville & Nashville;
Norfolk & Western; Northern
Pacific; Pennsylvania RR;
Seaboard Air Line; Southern
Pacific; and undecorated
