Prototype:

In 1954 Canadian Pacific purchased two orders (class DRS-16a and DRS-16b) of RS-3 locos from Montreal Locomotive Works, for a combined total of 36 units (road numbers 8426-8461). All were phase-2 variants, identified by the removal of all louvers from the access doors of the long hood (as seen on a phase-1 RS-3) and replaced with 6 box filters along the top of the hood. CP’s desire at that time for road switchers to house both a steam generator for passenger service, plus dynamic brakes for mountain service, could not be fulfilled within the tight confines of the RS-3. Upon Canadian Pacific’s insistence, MLW created the RS-10 to accommodate their requests. Though visually different, the two locomotive models are in fact internally identical. But due to their tight, low hood heights; the RS-3 was never a favourite among crews or maintenance forces, and were more prone to early retirement.

CP 8448 was noteworthy for being the second-last RS-3 to wear maroon and grey paint. For the record, the last RS-3 was 8459, which wore the scheme right to its retirement in Oct-1979. However the 8448 did eventually receive a shiny new coat of Action Red in 1975, only to be retired the following year due to a major mechanical failure.

Model:

The miniature 8448 is an old Van Hobbies brass model, with the original poor-running mechanism entirely replaced with a Kato-built drive from an Atlas ‘yellow box’ RS-3. It is also equipped with an ESU-Loksound decoder, so this 8448 sounds and runs as wonderful as it looks.