my ESPEE MODELERS ARCHIVE

California's Railroad to the U.S. 1861 - 1996

Southern Pacific RS11

37 units delivered

SP RS11 on train #247 at Oakland's 16th St. station.

4 views of RS11 #2927 from Terry Kirkland via Ed Cooper

5720 and 5721 were Alco demonstrators delivered in 1956 in Black Widow paint they were setup long hood forward and had steam generator controls and ATS.

5722 was also a long hood forward demonstrator but actually had a steam generator and ATS. Was the only RS11 with a steam generator.

5723 - 5729 delivered in 1956 in Black Widow paint but setup short hood forward

5845 - 5865 delivered in 1959 in Scarlet and Grey setup short hood forward

5866 - 5871 delivered in 1959 in Scarlet and Grey setup short hood forward and were the only RS11's with low nose or short hood.

For a total of 37 RS 11's. These were downgraded to switching service during the 1965 Espee renumbering, and renumbered sequentially; #5720 became #2900 thru #5871 became #2936.

SP's RS11's came in three batches, the exDemo's, the 1956 and 1959 builds. As such they exhibit some external differences, these are important to modelers, perhaps less important to others.

David Thompson has a webpages devoted to the differences that modelers concern themselves with and the RS11 is covered here. From David's data, the Demo's and the first batch are Phase Ia and the rest are Phase IIa. Obvious spotting difference is the arrangement of the upper carbody air filters.

References:

• Model Railroading Dec. 1988 - SP RS11 Diesel Detail Close-up - Proto photo of SP 2913, 2921.
• Mainline Modeler Nov. 1986 - Plans RS11

Additional Magazine References supplied by Bruce Conklin.
Corrected Prototype Numbering supplied by Don Jewell.