News & Reviews Product Reviews Staff Reviews Rapido Trains HO Alco RS11

Rapido Trains HO Alco RS11

By Cody Grivno | April 19, 2024

| Last updated on May 2, 2024

Second run features newly tooled, railroad-specific details

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The Rapido Trains HO Alco RS11 diesel locomotive recently visited our Wisconsin & Southern layout. Join Senior Editor Cody Grivno — who really didn’t pick his shirt to match the locomotive’s paint scheme — as he shares a brief history of Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific No. 3600; highlights the various railroad-specific details on the four-axle road switcher; and demonstrates some of the model’s sound and lighting effects. Then see the RS11 in action as it pulls a loaded pulpwood train from East Troy Junction to Troy.

In addition to Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific (as-delivered green and yellow), the RS11 is decorated for Burlington Northern (Cascade Green and black and Northern Pacific patchout), Central Vermont (green and yellow with “wet noodle” herald), Delaware & Hudson (blue and gray with lightning stripe), New York Central (black and white), Nickel Plate Road (black and yellow), Maine Central (Pine Green), Northern Pacific (as-delivered black and yellow), Portland Terminal (Pine Green), and Seaboard Air Line (as-delivered scheme). The model is offered in one to four road numbers per scheme.

Features on the Rapido Trains HO Alco RS11 include newly tooled, railroad-specific details; operating headlights, class lights, number boxes, and control stand lights; metal side handrails with plastic stanchions; working inspection lights in the inspection light casting; and full underbody piping, conduits, and steam lines, where appropriate. In addition, the locomotive has a new five-pole skew-wound motor with dual flywheels and sounds recorded from a prototype Alco 251B diesel engine.

Direct-current models with a 21-pin connector sell for $225. Versions with a dual-mode ESU LokSound V5 sound decoder retail for $335.

Read a review of the Rapido Trains HO scale RS11 on Trains.com.

Trains.com Product Review videos showcase the latest new items from manufacturers of products in Z, N, HO, S, O, and large scales. In the videos, you can watch locomotives in action, take a close-up look at details on freight cars, see kit components, and much more.

If you are a manufacturer and have products you would like to have reviewed, please email Senior Editor Cody Grivno at cgrivno@kalmbach.com for more information.

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