SRNJ 1548 - RS3m question

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to track down some information about a particular former Southern Railroad of New Jersey locomotive, and was hoping you might be able to help me out.

The locomotive in question is SRNJ 1548, a former Conrail DeWitt-rebuild RS3m that was owned by SRNJ in the late 90s. It was then sold to Andrew Merilees, and ended up at the Canada Starch (CASCO) plant in Cardinal ON until it was scrapped several years ago. The locomotive is quite unique, because during its time with SRNJ (or possibly just before they acquired it, I'm not entirely sure), someone put in a lot of work to restore its Alco appearance. This included changing much of the hood, but retaining the EMD prime mover that it had been re-engined with. The only obvious external evidence of the 12-567 hiding under the hood (apart from the sound) is the second exhaust stack (interestingly one of the two skinny EMD-style stacks is inside an Alco-style stack).

Here's a photo of it during its SRNJ time:

And in it's CASCO incarnation:

One of the changes involved adding the original Alco-style radiator fan housing at the end of the long hood. What I don't know however, and am trying hard to find out, is what they did with the fans. Did they in fact replace the twin 36" EMD fans with an original Alco fan, or perhaps a single larger EMD fan? Or did they just recess the existing EMD fans into the hood so they fit under the Alco-style cover?

I'm working on building a model of this locomotive in its CASCO incarnation, and want to model it as accurately as possible. I have not yet been able to find any photos of the unit from above, so I don't know what the fan setup is. My model will have the fans visible through the top screen, so I would like for them to be modelled correctly. If there were in fact twin 36" EMD fans hiding under there, I think it would be really neat to see them through the grill.

Does anyone here by any chance either know this information, or know someone who might be able to help? I know it might be a long shot, but I figured I'd ask anyway!

Many thanks,

Hi, if memory serves me right, this unit may have been parked at the whitesboro wye in the late 1980s where the old wildwood junction train station sat, I have photos of that yard with a lot of equipment and will try to get to them and post. I think I remember this engine with the side doors open. Ed

I just did a little more checking and I believe this engine was cr 8481 which became cmsl 8481 it looks very similar to the srnj. Ed

photos of CMSL 8481

Yes, it was indeed CMSL 8481. Thanks for those additional photos - those pics are while the unit was still in it's "DeWitt-ed" form, prior to the modifications that made it look more like an Alco. If you look at the photo I posted of it as SRNJ 1548, you can see large sections of the unit that are in reddish brown rather than blue: those appear to be the sections that were grafted on from, presumably, another existing RS3 body.

So it still leaves me with that basic question: were the two 36" EMD fans (visible in the photos of it as CMSL 8481) just recessed under the Alco fan housing when it was further rebuilt, or were they replaced with something else? I realize I may never find an accurate answer, but figured it can't hurt to ask around. If all else fails, I'll just assume that it was easiest to recess those fans down, and build my model with them visible through the top grill.

There were two 36 inch fans, one on each side but they were not mounted horizontally. There was a V shaped structure fabricated for them, maybe with a 60 degree inside angle, the bottom of the V being toward the floor, IIRC.

Rereading some of this, there are two locomotives here. 8481 was a PRR unit, and is still in South Jersey; it was never modified from it's DeWitt form. CNJ 1548 was sold to someone in Canada, and I understand it was scrapped a few years ago.

olneytrains wrote:Hi, if memory serves me right, this unit may have been parked at the whitesboro wye in the late 1980s where the old wildwood junction train station sat, I have photos of that yard with a lot of equipment and will try to get to them and post. I think I remember this engine with the side doors open. Ed

It was and it was privately owned and a sister unit to the one currently down at CMSL. It was an RS-3M rebuilt back to an RS-3 by the owner who left CMSL and went to SRNJ and took the unit with him which was then sold up to Canada. Hope that helps.

EDM5970 wrote:There were two 36 inch fans, one on each side but they were not mounted horizontally. There was a V shaped structure fabricated for them, maybe with a 60 degree inside angle, the bottom of the V being toward the floor, IIRC.

Rereading some of this, there are two locomotives here. 8481 was a PRR unit, and is still in South Jersey; it was never modified from it's DeWitt form. CNJ 1548 was sold to someone in Canada, and I understand it was scrapped a few years ago.

Ah yes, right you are! NJ1548 was previously CR 9937, as opposed to 8481 which is listed on rrpicturearchives as being CR 9929 before being PC 5365. Yes, 1548 went to the Canada Starch plant in Cardinal, Ontario, and was scrapped in 2008.

Thank you so much for that answer about the fans, it's exactly what I was looking to figure out. So let me just clarify: so would the V appear as a V looking from the side, or from the front?

timberley wrote:

EDM5970 wrote:There were two 36 inch fans, one on each side but they were not mounted horizontally. There was a V shaped structure fabricated for them, maybe with a 60 degree inside angle, the bottom of the V being toward the floor, IIRC.

Rereading some of this, there are two locomotives here. 8481 was a PRR unit, and is still in South Jersey; it was never modified from it's DeWitt form. CNJ 1548 was sold to someone in Canada, and I understand it was scrapped a few years ago.

Ah yes, right you are! NJ1548 was previously CR 9937, as opposed to 8481 which is listed on rrpicturearchives as being CR 9929 before being PC 5365. Yes, 1548 went to the Canada Starch plant in Cardinal, Ontario, and was scrapped in 2008.

Thank you so much for that answer about the fans, it's exactly what I was looking to figure out. So let me just clarify: so would the V appear as a V looking from the side, or from the front?

Actually I guess it would make sense to have them mounted on either side, so the "V" would appear as a V when looking from the front. That way each fan is pulling air directly in through the shutters and blowing upwards. Am I correct?

That may be a bit more of a challenge to model, as going down in a V like that starts to run into space issues. But I can try to give it a go...should be interesting!

The bottom of the V ran fore and aft, or along the centerline of the locomotive. Going back a few posts, the unit was not "rebuilt back to an RS3 by the owner", he merely changed the appearance as much as he could. The unit was still an RS3M, 12-567 engine and all.