End of the Line Express LionChief RS-3 Set
| Item # | 6-85253 |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Lionel |
| Loco Type | Alco RS-3 |
| Wheel Arr. | B-B |
| Proto. Manufacturer | American Locomotive Co. (Alco) |
| Loco Category | Diesel Locomotives |
| Road Name | Halloween |
| Road Number | 798 |
| Prototype Era | 2010s |
| Catalog Year | 2018 |
| Catalog Season | Big Book |
| Product Line | LionChief |
| Features | |
| Scale | Non-Scale |
| Min. Curve | O27 |
| Run Type | Set |
| MSRP | $329.99 |
| Notes | |
| Set: RS-3 + transport car + tank car + transfer caboose; set length 43"; orange FasTrack | |
| Control Systems | |
| Bluetooth | ● |
|---|---|
| Legacy Control System | |
| TMCC | |
| LC Universal Remote | ● |
| LC Individual Remote | ● |
| Conventional | |
| Features | |
| Sound | ● |
| Smoke Unit | ● |
| Odyssey Speed Control | |
| ElectroCoupler | |
The Alco RS-3 was the most successful road switcher in Alco's RS series — a 1,600-horsepower B-B locomotive produced from 1950 through 1956 that represented Alco's strongest competitive challenge to EMD's GP7 and GP9 in the general-purpose road switcher market. Powered by the 244 prime mover producing 1,600 horsepower, the RS-3 used the hood unit road switcher configuration that was rapidly displacing the cab unit as the preferred American locomotive format, with crew walkways on both sides and a cab at one end providing good visibility and practical maintenance access. Alco sold approximately 1,370 RS-3s to North American railroads — a production number that demonstrated genuine market penetration against EMD's dominant position — and the locomotive appeared on the rosters of a wide range of Class I, regional, and short line operators.
The RS-3 served in general freight, passenger, and mixed service across its customer railroads, with its 1,600-horsepower rating adequate for the majority of assignments that did not require the heaviest mainline power. Alco's established relationships with many railroads from the steam era supported RS-3 sales, and the locomotive's solid mechanical reputation — better than the FA cab unit's troubled 244 engine record in road switcher service — gave it a competitive standing that Alco maintained through the mid-1950s. In O Gauge, the RS-3 is one of the most produced Alco diesel subjects in the catalog, its broad road name coverage and strong association with the transition era making it a versatile choice for any postwar layout.
The Halloween road name covers O Gauge locomotives and equipment decorated in Halloween themes — orange and black color schemes, jack-o'-lantern imagery, spooky lettering, and the visual vocabulary of the October holiday applied to a notably wide range of locomotive types including cab units, steam, and road switchers. The Halloween line has become one of the more developed annual holiday collector series in the O Gauge catalog, with a growing range of locomotive types that have appeared in Halloween decoration and a collector following that pursues each year's additions to the set.
Halloween-themed trains appeal to collectors who enjoy the playful, theatrical side of the hobby, and the orange and black scheme on a powerful steam locomotive or Alco cab unit creates a striking visual effect quite unlike any prototype railroad livery. The series sits alongside the AEC glow-in-the-dark series and similar novelty releases as part of the hobby's tradition of imaginative, non-prototype themed collector products.
Modeling Significance & Notes[edit | edit source]
The 2018 LionChief Alco RS-3 is a single-product Non-Scale New Haven Railroad set with LionChief Bluetooth control on O-31 curves — packaged as a complete set with a State of Maine boxcar, New York New Haven & Hartford 2-bay hopper, and porthole caboose at 43 inches overall set length.
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