I decided to have a look at the not-so-new Bachmann RS-3, since you can find it at a very good price on the web.
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It's a good layout model, a cut above the old Athearn bluebox, as various people have pointed out. There are lots of differences between the WM prototype and the Bachmann version of the model, but since the locos are black, it's harder to spot them at a layout viewing distance. Also, since the WM also had RS-2s, it's hard to tell the RS-2s (with a lot of details like the hood louvers closer to the Bachmann RS-3s) from the late RS-3s the WM had. With all of them black, it's also hard to spot. I misspent enough of my youth in Maryland that I've got a fair amount of WM stuff on my layout.

With the dummy plug in place, the loco runs a little faster than the Bachmann GP9 for some reason, but it's pretty much compatible with Atlas and Walthers Proto.

A minor correction is in order..Athearn never had a BB RS3..The current RTR RS3 is the former MDC RS3 with minor improvements.

I'm glad to hear positive things about the newer Bachmann locomotives.

Can the GP7 and RS3 be mu'd on DC or is there to much speed difference?

Here's why I'm asking.

I'm thinking about backdating to the 50s or 60s for a change of pace and to be honest I've been looking hard at Bachmann's GP7,RS3 and H16-44.Maybe a A-B-A of sharks.

I didn't mean to imply there was a bluebox RS-3 to compare the Bachmann to, I was just speaking about the paint, detail level, and drive of models from, say, the U-boats to the GP38/40/50, SW1500, etc.

It looks like you can mu the RS-3 with the GP9, and my guess is that with running in, they'll both be closer in performance.

didn't mean to imply there was a bluebox RS-3 to compare the Bachmann to, I was just speaking about the paint, detail level, and drive of models from, say, the U-boats to the GP38/40/50, SW1500, etc.
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D'OH! Sorry..I misinterpreted what you wrote. :oops:

Thanks..I've notice some of the newer Bachmann at the club but,wanted to get more information from a wider source.

Say........Didn't the WM have the 198, as a Hammerhead RS-3 anyway?

I bet that be a GREAT rendition to my Hammerhead casting if so, and if not, the renumber would be pretty simple, I would imagine!

The hammerheads were 192 and 193, and 193 kept its steam generator long enough to run a fantrip in the 1970s. I got the Bachmann WM version to try out the hammerhead casting, but I like the thing so much I'll probably get a second one to do the conversion now.

The WM Hammerheads were #192, 193, 194 & 197. The WM RS-3's were #185-198. Looking at photos it seems they were from 3 different "phases" although the number and location of the doors with air filters varied over their lifetimes. The RS-2's were #180-184.

Roger Huber

Thanks, that's good info on 194 and 197 -- haven't found a photo of 194 yet, but it's good to know. On phases, I've slowly learned -- in part from some of the guys who thought up "phases" in the first place -- not to rely so much on the idea, since production changes were easy to confuse with customer options, and things like the fuel tank size (customer option) mixed with engineering changes on things like the ventilation holes in GP7 and GP9 skirts can really get confusing. A lot of the same applies to RS-3s, leaving out that some late RS-2s were in RS-3 carbodies. All of the WM RS-3s had the late-style air filter intakes in the hood doors, but they also had customer options like fuel tanks, high angled number boards, and the equipment boxes ahead of the cab on the left running board, plus something or other, heater or something, ahead of the cab on the right running board, plus extended exhaust stacks. Big differences from Bachmann, Athearn, and Atlas, anyhow -- you'd have to dig up a Stewart kit as a start for an accurate one, but that would still leave you with a lot of extra work.