This is another something, changed to something else. This Bachmann RS-3 started life as an Erie RS-3, this is a Bachmann Sound Value locomotive. I chose the Erie Model as it was somewhat close to the N.P.'s color scheme, Black and Yellow. So, planning out how I was going to convert to a Northern Pacific RS-3, I removed the couplers and their boxes, allowing the shell to be removed. Then, I had to paint over the Erie name, road number and yellow trim. Then I went to the Joe Carron photo collection at the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association website and looked through Joe's photos of RS-3s. Most all of Northern Pacific's RS-3s had the Canoe End Yellow & Black Paint schemes. The Canoe end means that the yellow ends don't come down straight to the walkways as mine shows; but, rather have a curve starting from the top of the end hoods and curving down, along the sides and ending along the walkways, looking like a canoe. All the RS-3s Joe showed had this feature excepting #861. I liked this scheme as it was simpler. So, I painted the ends and the under frame of the walkways. yellow. I opened the cab up, removed the windows and painted the interior of the cab B.N. green. I don't remember if I placed an engineer and fireman in the cab or not. I remember having them face either direction, as at the time I did not know if N.P. had their RS-3s run long end forward or Short end Forward. By having the engineer on the long hood side facing the long hood end and the other the other way around for the short hood, I had a train crew facing the right direction no matter which way N.P. ran their engines. I painted and weathered the trucks and wheels, painted yellow on the handrails near the steps and painted the edges of the steps yellow. I added an oval extension to the exhaust stack. and double chime horns to the cab roof. So, once again I have defeated the manufacturers opinions that the Northern Pacific is not worth there time to produce models of.
The loco is a good runner, strong puller and has nice sound. It's one of my favorite locos to pull my trains with. I would like to add an N.P. RS-3 with the Canoe paint scheme, if I could find one!
Please Note: When I took the two photos above, I did not notice that the camera was tipped to the right slightly. The trestle is actually level across it's top, so the train is not heading down hill as is shown.