Modeling Diesel Locomotives

Modeling the diesel locomotives of the Danville & Western

There are a number of commercial models of both the RS-2 and RS-3. In HO, Kato and Proto-1000 make an RS-2, and Bachmann, Athearn, and Stewart make an RS-3. In N scale, Kato and Atlas make an RS-2, and Atlas makes an RS-3. I am much less familiar with the other scales, but the Alco RS line was relatively common, and so are the models.

There has never been a commercial D&W RS, which leaves custom painting as the only option. The paint is easy enough. Black and Pullman green for the RS-2, Southern green for the RS-3. The difficult part is the decals. There was a custom run of Carolina & Northwestern decals in HO by Rail Graphics, which included the D&W lettering. Each sheet would do one locomotive in either the early (RS-2) scheme. Unfortunately, there was not enough space to include lettering for the RS-3. The Microscale Southern diesel set has the stripes needed, but not the lettering. The only option, short of custom decals, would probably be to cut up two of the RS-2 sets to get enough to spell out "DANVILLE & WESTERN"

Greg sent me these photos of his RS-2 #2, using the Rail Graphics decals.

Chad in Roanoke, VA, sent me these photos of his RS-2 #2 and RS-3 #1. Both were lettered using the Rail Graphics decals, but Chad says he had to piece the decals for #1 together using the C&NW lettering. the RS-2 is a Proto-1000 model, the RS-3 is Atlas.