Nice job, LifeLike: RS2

[tom mann]

http://nscalesupply.com/Lif/LIF-LocomotiveALCO-RS2.html

Looks really sharp and DCC ready!

[Frank Amato]

These look to be the bomb, as my daughter says 

I have the two LV units pre-ordered at my LHS.  Looks like they nailed the red paint.  A nice change from the Life-Like purple that they called "Cornell Red".

[RockGp40]

Hey Lee, do you think that LV red would be good enough to turn into an MDDE loco? I know its an RS2, but, who knows?

Brian

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Those do look nice!

Maybe someday I'll score one to repower my RS3m (which is a little rough). BTW, that's EXACTLY what the MDDE has.

[trainforfun]

I think there will be some work to be done to the side glass of the cab . What do you think ?  ???

[DKS]

Mine just arrived, and I have it sitting side-by-side with a Kato RS2. LL's LV livery is very good, with extremely crisp and accurate pad printing in four colors, although the paint is just a bit on the heavy side (but not too heavy to ruin the nice 3-D effect of the fan). Tooling is on par with Atlas' newer units--Kato's tooling is crisper and cleaner than the Chinese models, although Kato's handrails are heavier. One quibble, the cab side windows have molded-in parts that should have been painted but were left transparent. On the plus side, the molded-in windshield wipers were pad-printed silver. The mechanism looks to be a clone of the now-tried-and-true design Atlas and Kato both use. Very nice blackened low-pro wheelsets. Have not run it yet, so I can't report on that, but will when I get a chance.

[Caleb Austin]

One thing I like about the LL locos is the hand rails, they look much more to scale than atlas & kato. Its the same deal with the GP38-2.

[up1950s]

The stack should be sideways on the UP units after 1955 but ok as is prior . The trucks should be gray prior to 1955 though .

Edited post after finding conflicting photographic info on UP 1295 .

[wcfn100]

The stack should be sideways on the UP units.

I thought that most RS-2's were delivered air cooled like the LL loco and converted to water cooled later on which changed the stack.  I know the CGW did it this way and I've seen examples of many other roads that did this as well.

Jason

[Chris333]

They look nice. The Erie numbers are in the 900's so they are passenger units, I don't have any passenger trains yet...

[up1950s]

The stack should be sideways on the UP units.

I thought that most RS-2's were delivered air cooled like the LL loco and converted to water cooled later on which changed the stack.  I know the CGW did it this way and I've seen examples of many other roads that did this as well.

Jason

Yup , you are correct sir , I just finished digging up the past . Found a shot of UP 1295 with a longways stack , and another shot of it in 1955 with a sideways stack . I will edit my erred post .

[SquirrelHollow]

I don't know if I like that circuit board design, but I'll probably find a way to acquire a few.

[tom mann]

One thing I like about the LL locos is the hand rails, they look much more to scale than atlas & kato. Its the same deal with the GP38-2.

Yes, I agree with this.  The 38-2 handrails look awesome.

[choochin3]

What, no Penn Central?
Maybe next run.

Carl T.

[brokemoto]

These are being well received.  This surprises me, given what I have heard about Kato's experience with them.  Supposedly, they posted sales figures for Kato that were somewhat less than stellar. 

Good.

I might buy one just to try it, but the reality is that I have enough of the Katos.

Some have commented that the fan on the WKW is to scale, as opposed to the Kato.

I do hope that this one posts good figures and helps to convince WKW that there is a demand for N scale product.

I do not have the Edson/Vail book in front of me, I seem to recall that one or two of the NYC units did make it to PC, but I forget which ones and if they were DRS-2 or DRSP-2.  Can anyone confirm or deny?

While on the subject of freight/passenger units, someone mentioned that these are supposed to have road specific details.  Someone mentioned that the Erie numbers represented passenger units.  The NYC numbers do represent passenger units.  Do the Eries and NYCs have s/g stacks, or must one add them?  The NYC prototypes had the 'factory' ALCo stack arrangement:  the vent stack toward the front of the short hood and an angled escape stack up against the cab ( as opposed to the majority of the DRSP-6 [passenger RS-3s] which had a 'stovepipe' escape stack closert to the end of the short hood and an oblong vent stack closer to the middle of the short hood.  I do not know what was the stack arrangement on the Erie units. 

J'n'J sells the 'factory' ALCo stacks; you can fashion the 'stovepipe' stacks and the oblong vent stack from sprues and chinks of styrene.