Atlas Mopac RS-11 coming with Lok sound – read Ron’s reply – not correct for MP

[peggyrothschild]

The Missouri Pacific Historical Society is an Altas dealer and I am thinking of ordering 2-3 of the RS-11s they just announced. Are they something we should carry, are the colors and lettering accurate? I know they’ve done a MoPac RS-11 before, but I have not seen one outside of Internet photos. The YouTube review shows treads on the walkways, separate hand grabs up the noses, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W-pyM5TNqw

https://shop.atlasrr.com/p-52436-ho-rs-11-silver-missouri-pacific-4606.aspx

I appreciate any comments.

[princessclyne69]

I did a quick look at a few prototype photos. First and most obvious, the MP units were non-dynamic, interesting since I’d read somewhere that they had been bought for the Pea Ridge mine branch. Or maybe Alco was more willing to take the truck frames from the Baldwins…..

This affects the model in that the top of the hood would be plain without all that dynamic gear forward of the stack. But, also, the model has five evenly spaced screen vents along the top of each side, while the prototype had three bunched together at the very front of the hood, right behind the cab, like an EMD geep. This strikes me as major surgery, but maybe not completely beyond the pale.

A second difference I saw is that the MP units apparently came with horns mounted on the sides of the hood, right ahead of / behind the cab. Forward horns are on the engineer’s side, rear horns on the fireman’s side. Very early GPs had these, and the MP and T&P moved them fairly soon to the cab roof. The RS11 model has different style horns on the roof. Right now I haven’t found a shot of these units with the horns moved. I have shots of the 74 and 76, after having been Christine’d, that show the horns still in the original position on the sides of the hood, so maybe not. On the 79 they’re also in the same place on the side of the hood, but the forward horn is a three-chime.

There are several for sale on eBay now, including an MP shell only, that show the diework seems to be pretty decent and the model seems to be a proper representation of the vast majority of RS11 production. Looking at the views of the two undecs on eBay suggests you might be able to carve out those screened grills and move them, and maybe match the roof contour, but you might need at least one donor shell to do it properly. You could probably match the paint close enough, without having to damage the striping and color separations.

I think I’ve seen shots of these units MUed with EMDs, but I don’t know anything beyond that about assignments before renumbering. I’d be really surprised to find a shot of one of these on a train by itself.

RG7

[peggyrothschild]

Ron
Thanks for the overview – given all the changes needed to make this a true MP RS-11 I’ll pass on stocking any for the store.

[princessclyne69]

Best shot of these units that I’ve found so far is p. 78 of Boyd’s MP in Color vol.1, which shows both sides in a lashup of at least three.

RG7

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