Athearn RS-3 DCC Sound Review

The RS-3 is an Alco built road switcher from the mid twentieth century, a versatile design many real railroads bought for both road and yard duty. Athearn's model is finished specifically as Denver and Rio Grande Western equipment, matching the paint scheme, number and detail choices that railroad actually ran, per the manufacturer's own product description.

The costs you moment with any factory decorated locomotive like this one is roadname lock in. This RS-3 is painted, lettered and numbered for the Denver and Rio Grande Western specifically, and a modeler building a layout set on a different railroad, region or era is buying a locomotive that will not match the rest of their fleet's story. That is not a flaw in the model, Athearn built exactly what it advertised, but it is a real limitation for anyone who has not already decided their layout runs Rio Grande power.

A second, related point: because the paint and sound are both factory installed and matched to this one road name, there is no lower cost undecorated version of this specific release to repaint for a different railroad. A modeler who wants a different roadname needs to either accept this one or look at a different manufacturer's RS-3 offering entirely.

A DCC sound equipped locomotive runs its speaker and sound amplifier continuously whenever it is powered on the track, which the manufacturer's decoder documentation and the wider published data on sound decoders both confirm draws meaningfully more current than a silent DC or DCC ready locomotive. Running several sound equipped locomotives together, especially in a consist, adds up against a DCC system's amperage limit faster than an equivalent number of silent locomotives would.

Check the actual math for the intended roster with the DCC power budget calculator and the published figures at the DCC current draw chart before assuming an existing command station has enough headroom for this locomotive plus everything else already on the roster.

For a modeler who wants Athearn's build quality but a different, more widely produced prototype and roadname options, Athearn HO GP40-2L with DCC and Sound Guilford Maine Central is a step up alternative in a more common four axle road diesel style, reviewed at the Athearn GP40-2L review. Athearn HO SD40 Santa Fe Locomotive is a budget pick alternative without factory sound for a modeler who wants to add their own decoder choice instead of accepting the factory installed one.

Walthers Mainline EMD GP9 Phase II with ESU Sound and DCC HO Scale is an instead option from a different manufacturer entirely, with ESU sound rather than Athearn's factory setup, worth weighing at Athearn vs Walthers Mainline. The broader question of Bachmann versus Athearn build quality and price for a similar budget is covered at Bachmann vs Athearn locomotives.