The FeePay seller (which is Atlas, oddly enough) will not respond to my query on FeePay. For this reason, I am asking here. I bought an RS-1 shell. It is painted and lettered for the Pennsylvania Railroad, road number 8857. The shell has a number stamp inside it 17720. According to Trove Star, this was issued in 2007. It does have knuckle couplers. I tried to put it onto a power chassis from the era when Atlas was still using Rapido couplers. It would not go. The power chassis shows a copyright date of 1998, which would be from the early years of the Chinese power chassis. Oddly enough, the number stamp inside the shell that does fit it still reads 17720. Has Atlas made some alterations to the Chinese RS-1 power chassis since it issued it? If this is the case, I can buy either another power chassis or another whole locomotive, swap the shells and trade/sell the other shell. Which ones should I buy or not buy? Does anyone know which chassis, if there are different ones, will this one fit? Thank you in advance for any help.
Not sure what it's worth, but Spookshow reads only that "it is reportedly possible to mount an old Atlas/Kato RS-1 shell on the newer Atlas Classic chassis. Unfortunately, the walkways will not swap, so you'll need to keep the one that came with the Atlas Classic shell". [ http://www.spookshow.net/loco/kators1.html ]
The only change I was aware of was when they went from open to closed pilots. Even then the shells from the older models still fit on the new chassis, you just didn't have any couplers unless you bought the Microtrains adapter kits which had a plate to fill in the hole in the pilot. There WAS some changes made to the RS3, but not the RS1 around the time you mention. I have RS1s from all thru the series......open pilot rapido couplers, closed pilot rapidos, closed pilot knuckle couplers, and the shells are all interchangable (within reason). What about yours "doesn't fit"?
There is nothing Atlas/Kato involved, here. The shell, according to Trove Staris a 2007 issue. It has Accumate couplers and a closed pilot. The walkway goes with the shell and will fit onto the power chassis. Everything involved is of Chinese manufacture. The power chassis is a few millimeters too long for the shell. The walkway actually will go.
I'm not sure Trove Star is 100% accurate about the dates on the shells...........I have 6 shells sitting in front of me...........They range from one that's old enough to have Rapidos couplers on it on up. They ALL have 17720 stamped inside the shell and I KNOW they aren't all from the same run. 2 of mine are Milwaukee Road, and are completely different paint schemes and if I remember right, they were released quite a number of years apart. All my chassis also have the 1998 date on them. I guess that's good, because it means they were all made using the same dies and/or molds, so they SHOULD interchange. On mine, the walkways have a vertical bar cast into each end that fits inside the end of the shell........so I find it odd that the walkways fit but the shell doesn't since the shell has to fit over the walkway........if the walkway fits over the chassis and the shell fits over the walkway, then the shell should fit over the chassis. On most of mine, that bar on the ends of the walkway has the paint polished off it.........could you get enough clearance for the chassis if you filed that down? Also, one of my shells is a PRR #9921 and it fits perfectly on my Milwaukee Road chassis with the 1998 stamp on it. I did a bunch of shell swapping.......Atlas sold some SP&S RS1 shells a few years back, so I bought the shells and whatever complete locos I could lay my hands on.....probably similar to what you are trying to do. I had no fit issues with any of what I bought. But that's how I ended up with all the spare RS1 shells. Anyway.......I know it's not helpful, but you SHOULDN'T be having the issues..........maybe some pictures would help?
This turned out to be one of the problems. There was too much paint on the "vertical bar" that you referenced. Further, there was too much point on the four tabs on the side that lock the shell onto the walkway. A little filing/sanding and it went onto the power chassis. The shell still is a very tight fit, but it is on there. Now to add the steam generator details as the prototype did have a steam generator................................ It did not, however, have the Trainphone antenna. I do not know if any of the Penn RS-1s that had a steam generator also had the antenna. The only service photographs of Penn RS-1s that I have seen with the antenna did not have the steam generator.. Thank you, everyone, for your help on this question.
Glad you got it to fit. Where did you get steam generator parts? The Milwaukee Road had a couple of RS1s that switched passenger yards.........they even had a couple of little water tanks built on old tender frames for them to drag around. Might be a fun modeling project if I can get the detail parts.
J'n'J Trains sold the steam generator detail parts for the RS-3 with the angled escape stack that goes up against the cab and the flat vent stack that goes toward the fireman's side on the short hood.. Most of the passenger RS-1s used that same stack arrangement. There were some that used the flat vent stack but had a "stovepipe" escape stack that usually went on the end and toward the middle of thee short hood. For those, the vent stack went elsewhere on the short hood. You would have to get a service photograph of the particular locomotive to see where as there was no set pattern for the placement of the vent stack on those that used the "stovepipe" escape stack. New York Central and Delaware and Hudson used the stovepipe escape stack on their passenger RS-1s(DRSP-1), -2s (DRSP-2) and -3s (DRSP-6) but there may have been other roads that had the stovepipe stack as well.. Some of the New York Central passenger RS-3s did have the angled stack. The Penn had passenger RS-1s and RS-3s but every photograph that I ever have seen of one shows the angled stack. Most of the roads that used passenger RS-1s used them for passenger terminal switching. Most of the service photographs that I have seen of Penn passenger RS-1s do show their doing that work. Penn did buy one, though, in 1948, specifically for the Parkton Local, which was a commuter train that ran between Parkton, Maryland and Baltimore on the Northern Central. In fact, it ran by the Timonium Fairgrounds, which is famed for the Great Scale Model Train Show (commonly known as the "Timonium Show"). NYS&W did use them on road passenger trains, as well. Most roads seemed to prefer them as station switchers.. Washington Terminal company used them at Union Station in Washington until AMTRAK sold off most of them. EMD even built a model to compete with the RS-1. It looked like an SW or NW that had a short hood added. Only one, two, or three roads actually bought any of GM's and all of them without the steam generator. I do not know which stack arrangement CMStP&P RS-1s used but I presume that you do. Sadly, J'n'J is long out of business, but its detail parts still are out there as NOS.
I did an SP&S RS2 quite a while back........I think I just made the stack out of some tubing, and found a vent that looked right in my junk box. Probably not prototypical, but it gets the point across and I like it. Yes, Milw. used a stovepipe stack and an "inverted pie plate" vent on their RS1s. They were only used in coach yards in a couple of the major terminals. For actual service, they had a number of RSC-2 locos equipped with steam generators, and also several GP9TTs.
If it were the square "inverted pie plate", that is what you get in the J'n'J bag. If it were the round, you have two options, of which I am aware: 1. Find a J'n'J GP-7/9 steam generator stack kit and take the vent stack from that. 2. Use the vents from the Kato RDC-2/3/4. Kato usually gives you more than you need. The Kato vents also work for FM passenger cab units. For the RS configured FM passenger units, you must use something that looks like screening. They go on the short hood. Apparently, there were "stacks" available for the FM passenger road switchers. The only service photographs that I have seen that showed these "stacks" were of SP Trainmasters taken in Texas. By the time that SP moved the Trainmasters to California, the stacks were gone. They were not on the things when i rode behind them to school in the early 1970s. Below is a photograph and a link to the original of a NYCS passenger RS-3 (DRSP-6) with the "stovepipe" escape stack. The funny thing about this one is that the positions of the vent and escape stack are almost reversed. The escape stack is toward the end of the short hood although it is in the center. The flat vent stack was usually slightly to the fireman's side on the passenger ALCo road switchers that had the angled stack up against the cab. The vent stack on this one is toward the cab, almost where the angled escape stack would go. https://www.railarchive.net/nyccollection/nyc8259.htm
