Alco RS-3 with DCC Sound - HO Scale Pre-order

We are now taking pre-orders for three Great Northern Railway RS-3s by Bowser Manufacturing. The preorder price shown here and charged today is FIVE (5) percent of the total price of $255,95, or $12.80. You will be charged for shipping and taxes on the deposit price today. Estimated arrival date is December 2024. When we have the engines in hand, we will charge your card for the balance due immediately before shipping. That balance will be the full price of the engine less today's deposit, plus taxes. 

Act NOW! We can take pre-orders only until January 31, 2024. Pre-orders will not be refundable after that date. We will not order additional engines beyond our pre-orders. We expect delivery in December 2024, and will charge your credit card for the balance due immediately before shipping. Note that our price is 20 percent off Bowser list.

Bowser is offering road numbers 220 and 223 to all of their distributors. In addition, and by special arrangement with Bowser, we are offering engine number 227 exclusively at the GNRHS Company Store where you may also purchase numbers 220 and 223. All will be painted in the original Orange and Green paint scheme with the Empire Builder style of lettering.

All of the engine numbers Bowser is offering are from the first lot of eight units, numbers 197-199, and 220-224, which arrived in May of 1950, with MU connections but without steam heat boilers. In early 1953 units 197, 198 and 199 were renumbered to 225, 226 and 227 respectively.

Alco built thirteen 1,600 horsepower RS-3 engines for the Great Northern Railway, eight received in May of 1950 followed by a second group of five in June of 1953. Great Northern sold engines 231 and 232 to the SP&S in the spring of 1959. The remainder went to GE as trade ins for U25B and U33C road engines. None made it to BN roster.

MORE ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN’S ALCO ROAD SWITCHERS

Great Northern clearly preferred EMD power, but purchased a few Alcos, including the Alco model RS-1, RS-2, and RS-3 road switchers.

Four 1,000 horsepower RS-1 engines, numbers 182-185, arrived in the second half of September 1944 without MU connections and without steam heat boilers. They were maintained at Hillyard, worked at Wenatchee on the W-O line in the summer, and on locals based at Hillyard. They left the GN roster in 1960, one sold for industrial use and three to scrap.

Twenty 1,500 horsepower RS-2 engines, numbers 200-219, arrived in the small lots during 1947, 1949, and 1950 with MU connections. Units 203-207 were equipped with steam heat boilers for passenger service. All were assigned to Hillyard and Interbay for maintenance. They worked at Wenatchee, covering yard jobs and the locals based in Wenatchee, including the W-O line. Numbers 200 and 201 were sold to the SP&S on February 16, 1963. The 203 was destroyed at Quincy, Washington, in November of 1963. The balance went to GE as trade in units against U25B road engines in 1964 and 1965, very shortly after their 15-year Equipment Trusts were paid off.

Thirteen 1,600 horsepower RS-3 engines arrived in two lots. The first lot of eight units, numbers 197-199, and 220-224, arrived in May of 1950, all with MU connections and without steam heat boilers. Early in 1953 units 197, 198 and 199 were renumbered to 225, 226 and 227 respectively. The second lot, numbers 228-232, arrived in June of 1953, with MU connections and without steam heat boilers. GN sold units 231 and 232 to the SP&S in the spring of 1959. The RS-3 units were assigned and worked interchangeably with the RS-2 units. Shortly after the Quincy wreck, all Alco road switchers seem to have been moved to Interbay for maintenance. The RS-3s were traded in to GE for credit against U25B and U33C road engines in 1965 and 1968 very shortly after their 15-year Equipment Trusts were paid off. None were painted Big Sky Blue.

The RS-2 and RS-3 units carried two lettering styles; Railroad Roman when they were delivered, and the Empire Builder font the first and every subsequent time they were repainted, which we believe began about 1956.

All were delivered in the ‘Empire Builder’ orange and green paint having a bottom orange stripe, a pullman green intermediate stripe, an upper orange stripe, with most of the roof in green. A two-inch yellow separator was applied at every color change. Lettering was in the green stripe, with the Rocky logo below the cab windows. The simplified orange and green paint scheme introduced in 1963 eliminated the bottom orange stripe, which saved many manhours and got the units out of the shop a day quicker.

WHAT DESIGN WAS THE FIRST ROAD SWITCHER?

Many sources, including Wikipedia, cite the RS-1, introduced in 1941, as the first road switcher.

Great Northern partisans would argue that the first road switcher was actually the NW-3 built by EMD which debuted on the GN in 1939. These units had the key attribute of a road switcher, road, rather than switcher, trucks and they were used in road service.

SHORT SUMMARY OF GREAT NORTHERN SWITCHERS

Great Northern pioneered diesel switch engines with Alco/General Electric box cab unit, No. 5100, acquired in 1926 for use in the flour milling district of Minneapolis to reduce the risk of fire and explosion of flour and grain dust in the area. 

In 1938 GN bought two 900 HP EMD switchers, followed by 51 EMD NW 2 models purchased in small groups from 1939 to 1949. Rated at 1000 HP, they were the single largest group of GN diesel switch engines. Probably due to Federal restrictions on EMD switcher production during WW II, GN bought 10 Baldwin VO-1000 units during 1941, ’43, and 1944.

During 1950 and 1951 GN bought 32 new EMD switchers, 21 of 1200 HP, with the balance being 600 or 800 HP for lighter service. The company bought 10 Alco S-2 1000 HP units in 1950 and went back to Baldwin for five S-12 units of 1200 HP in 1953. At this point, diesel switchers had taken over yard chores, but all of the C-1 0-8-0 steam switchers remained on the roster.

The last switch engines the GN purchased were 10 SW 1500 units from EMD in 1967 to replace the 10 Alco S-2 engines retired from Hillyard that year. The 10 Baldwin VO-1000 units were retired in 1963, and the five S-12 engines were retired in 1967.