Before Mark has a minor coronary about me posting anything for a dismal grinder (AKA good sources of scrap), let me say that I am posting for a couple of the diesel guys. TVRM, as some of you may know, has acquired a former CofGA RS-3 #109 which the Southern eventually traded to the ET&WNC at Johnson City for the 207 & 208 (nee Southern 630 & 722). The loco is largely complete, but the electrical locker was stripped in an earlier overhaul effort. We have acquired an additional electrical locker and radiators attached to cab and hood sections from a former GB&W unit that was turned into something more useful (maybe that scrap was melted down to cast new steam locomotive parts like axles and boiler plate:-). What parts that are not located in the short hood of the 109 should be in the cabinet and other piles of stuff from the scrapped unit. Small problem is that we do not have any electrical prints for this type of engine. I am aware that there were probably several variations and subsequent modifications done by various owners of other units, but does anyone have any RS-3 electrical prints or other info such as troubleshooting and service manuals (I know the existed at one time as we do have them for RSD-1 locomotives that we run)?

Thanks in advance for any help in this matter.

Michael Brown

newriver400@cs.com

Mike,

Can't help you with Alco wiriing diagrams, but I think I do have a set of electrical drawings for an EMD SW-1 that we are scrapping, if anyone out there needs them.

Alan

EverettRailroad@aol.com

> Mike,

> Can't help you with Alco wiriing diagrams,
> but I think I do have a set of electrical
> drawings for an EMD SW-1 that we are
> scrapping, if anyone out there needs them.

> Alan

I used to work as a volunteer for the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. We have a RS3. I'm not sure (I havn't seen them myself), but they sould have some diagrams or manuels that came with the RS3s from the factory in the NNRy parts wharehouse. I think the CMO there would be happy to help you if he could

> Mike,

> Can't help you with Alco wiriing diagrams,
> but I think I do have a set of electrical
> drawings for an EMD SW-1 that we are
> scrapping, if anyone out there needs them.

> Alan

I used to work as a volunteer for the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. We have a RS3. I'm not sure (I havn't seen them myself), but they sould have some diagrams or manuels that came with the RS3s from the factory in the NNRy parts wharehouse. I think the CMO there would be happy to help you if he could

terry_dempsey@hotmail.com

Try Keith or Darrell at the ET Railway in Johnson City. They still have most of their records still dating to steam in the early 1900's. If they kept all that, maybe they still the Alco stuff. Wasn't so long ago that they had them.

Matt Bumgarner

stealthnfo@aol.com

> Michael:

Please contact me about this-- we have prints and various RS-3 manuals available for duplication. There were different electrical systems on RS-3s, depending on when they were built.

Howard Pincus
Railroad Museum of New England
Thomaston, CT
(we operate NH 529-- 1950 RS-3)

> Please contact me about this-- we have
> prints and various RS-3 manuals available
> for duplication. There were different
> electrical systems on RS-3s, depending on
> when they were built.

> Howard Pincus
> Railroad Museum of New England
> Thomaston, CT
> (we operate NH 529-- 1950 RS-3)

Sorry, I forgot the e-mail address!!

HP
(messing with RS-3s since 1985)


hpincus@mindspring.com

> Mike,

> Can't help you with Alco wiriing diagrams,
> but I think I do have a set of electrical
> drawings for an EMD SW-1 that we are
> scrapping, if anyone out there needs them.

> Alan

Alan, are you scrapping the complete SW-1? If so, what are your plans for the trucks and other parts? OERM in Perris CA is in need of one. We have one that is almost beyond repair and it would be easier to slip a whole truck under rather that cut, bend, and weld the existing damage. Also, if you still have the SW-1 Electrical Prints I sure use them at OERM.


DWALTHAUS@AOL.COM

If anyone needs electrical schematics or any maintenance, parts manuals; let me know as I have all three.

Now that is a generous offer!

What I am offering are copies of the 3 items. I have a good collection of material for 539,244 and 251 locomotive materials that i can copy from for a reasonable price.

There drops the other shoe. Right on schedule.

"Sure, that information is available, BUT..."

This is railway preservation's dysfunctional relationship with information, and it will be the death of us.

I can't fault John for wanting reimbursement of his out-of-pocket costs duplicating the manual at Kinkos, or for his time. but you see where this fails us in the big picture. This helps only one person. We need to think bigger.

We need to start treating information like our future depends on the broadest distribution possible. Like, if RS-3 manuals don't get publicly archived, people will stop trying to preserve them - which happens to be true.

Google paid millions to scan every book in four university libraries. It would be neat if we could get Google to do that for our libraries, but if not, we need to. Even more, we need to outreach vendors who still have drawings of no longer supported parts, and preserve the information therein. Given how rapidly parts fabrication technology is changing, this could mean new life for many projects thought unachievable.

The folks who built five new Messerschmitt 262's had the benefit of the original drawings, which somehow survived a war and six decades. We need that too.

Fine about Google, Microsoft, etc.

Have you done the asking?

My take on this is - Google is a corporate enterprise, they only work with places that house information which are VISIBLE to the on-line enterprise or has a reputation which precedes.

Now, Joe Shmoe, with a crapload of manuals he got from dumpster diving at the Colonie Shops or wherever is not on the "radar" of Google.

How do you propose to hook up the two?

Right now, the railway preservation movement is a loose network of personal connections. This forum is one of the few online ones where a Google can mine the information and if Google has the will and energy, contact the people involved.

I'm sure that there is little or no compensation - operating on a former Senator from Illinois (Dirksen) principle - to paraphrase - A nickle here, pretty soon you have a lot of money....

Then again, I'm sure there are a number of altruistic people in the movement who will be willing to make their collection available. Now, do they have a scanner - what are the standards - , to they have an internet connection?, what century are they going to get around to doing it?

Ratsafrtats... I love it....

The maintenance manuals in question can easily be sourced from Ebay. Plenty of 'em around...as in TP-400 and 500. Cheap-cheap-cheep compared to what they used to go for at railroadiana shows.

The 'electrical drawings' are another issue...

First problem is that what is actually needed is the drawing set from the GB&W unit. This would comprise the schematic and the various 'physical wiring diagrams.'

Second problem is the inherent complication and multiple variations of RS-3 wiring over the production run. Re-wiring one of those things is really not an amateur endeavor.

DPK

I feel the need to respond to the above posts.
I have been collecting, buying and copying manuals for years. I have been spending more time on this after retirement.
Yes, its true that my offering are not free, but its rare to find someone to do anything like this for free these days with the cost of paper, gas,etc, excluding volunteers that spend countless hours working on equipment-been there, done that.
When I copy a ALCO manual, it will look better than the original in most cases as the original is scanned-page- by -page and cleaned up so it will be the best photocopy around. I have some manuals that are so dog eared, there is no way to "just" copy them using a automatic document feeder. I am currently working on a C420 Maintenance manual which is about 3' thick. Whenever possible, I include the most up to date information that simply was not available when the original was produced. Example: The C420 manual was produced in 1963(LIRR). I am updating this by adding NEW material produced for some components in 1968-72.

Some Alco manuals and other materials are like hens teeth and hard to find. I don't just "collect" manuals for sake of collecting, but put them to use helping railroads keep their Alcos running. I think this is more useful to preservationist that some collector who stores his manuals in the basement to slowly rot away never to surface again until this person dies.

If I can help keep your Alco running, let me know.