Trial Run Of Tweaked Bachmann RS-3 On Local

A month ago I posted on some tweaks I made to a couple of Bachmann RS-3s. I replaced the factory decoders with Digitrax DZ126PSs and Dremeled off the Bachmann coupler mounts so I could install Kadee 158s with their coupler boxes. This weekend I took the WM unit for a trial run on a local, which is in JMRI as train LM160, the 1st West Egg Roustabout. ("Roustabout" is a term that was used on the Erie and DL&W for way freights. My uncle's first railroad job was firing a steam loco on a Lackawanna "Roustabout".)

One thing I've done in the 20 years or so since I've been running computer switchlists has been to tailor jobs with different sizes, noting what the prototype sometimes does. For instance, the Santa Fe and now BNSF has some jobs that it designates with names like "1st Fullerton Road Switcher", "2nd Fullerton Road Switcher" and so forth. The jobs serve the same general areas but switch different industries. It began to dawn on me that I could do this on my model railroad, giving me the ability to have different jobs that switch the same area but do more or less work, depending on how ambitious I feel.

So there are several "West Egg Roustabout" jobs that do more or less work in West Egg. The exact work they do depends on what the switchlist program comes up with, so I get to be surprised, but there's a limit to how surprised I can get, which is great. Here was the switchlist for Friday's 1st West Egg Roustabout (you can click on the image to get a more readable copy):

A bonus was that PRR 674159 is the scratchbuilt H39 I made 30+ years ago from a block of scrap 2x4 and only recently got into operation. So I tested both the Bachmann RS-3 with upgrades and the PRR hopper. Both worked quite well.

I really like the way the Bachmann RS-3 responds to the throttle (the much better Digitrax decoder), how well it picks up current, and its general power and ability to pull a long yard track. All the WM and B&O stuff we've had from Bachmann seems to come from the late Lee Riley's work as Vice President of Product Development. I hope Bachmann continues to come out with worthwhile prototypes without his decades of great work.