RSO Yugoslavia

[Papyrus]

Well, you never know when you are going to encounter something new.

I was scrolling through eBay's 'spares or repairs' listings, as you do, and I came across one for an 'RSO Yugoslavia locomotive'. In 40 years of N Gauge modelling, on and off, I have never seen this brand before. Searching the Forum came up with a couple of mentions and Dr Google came up with a few more references, which seemed to indicate RSO made locos for the US market, which eventually ended up under the Mehano brand. Who knew?

The listing itself was wonderfully bizarre. The RSO chassis was a diesel and had been cut in two. The body was an Ivatt 2MT tank. There was a second motor, a wagon bogie and a pony truck. What piqued my interest was that the chassis looked as if it  would work under a DMU, and I have been looking for ages for one to fit a Class 105 kit. So I thought it might be worth putting a silly bid in, and I ended up getting it for £16 plus postage.

Now that it has arrived, I feel I've done well. The motors both run, and the chassis has a bogie wheelbase of 9' - nearer to the real thing than a Tomytec chassis. Also in the parcel, though not mentioned in the original listing, was a 00-9 wagon! Isn't eBay wonderful!?

Cheers,

Chris

[chrism]

What a curious listing. I can't imagine that anyone had originally intended the parts to go together, so presumably it's just a few bits from someone's spares box.
Is the "second bogie" actually the bit that was cut off?

[martyn]

I've never heard of RSO, but in about 1980 when I ordered, I think, P+D Marsh models of a Peak and cl 47, the chassis used was Mehano.

Both these were ordered as 'pre-built' by the manufacturer. I still have the 47 body, but not sure of the Peak. Both chassis failed after quite a bit of use: the Peak because it was cut and shut to extend it to fit the body length, and eventually bowed. I later modified a Farish 40 chassis for the Peak, and it ran along while in that form, being withdrawn when the Farish Peak came out.

The original chassis were for USA locos, and other diesel kits of that time may have used them as well, but I can't now remember.

Martyn

[tunneroner61]

I have a MTK cast metal kit of a Western hydraulic that uses a Mehano chassis for what I think was an EMD SD7. It ran Okish when I bought it in about 1980, now the motor is worn out and can barely move the very heavy body. It's not run, just kept as a museum piece 

[Papyrus]

What a curious listing. I can't imagine that anyone had originally intended the parts to go together, so presumably it's just a few bits from someone's spares box.
Is the "second bogie" actually the bit that was cut off?

This is what turned up:



If you can make a locomotive out of that little lot, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! Incidentally, I made a mistake about the wagon bogie - there are actually two pony trucks.

I should be able to make use of quite a bit of this (except the 00-9 van!). I'm hoping I might even be able to put the spare motor into another loco.

Cheers,

Chris

[ntpntpntp]

Ah yes, the cheap old RSO / Mehano / Model Power / LifeLike stuff.   I lump them together with old Lima in terms of (lack of) quality.  Dreadful diesel chassis but the white-metal-lump kitmakers of the 70s did seem to have a fondness for using them under various things, probably because they were cheap and easy to hack and extend being only powered on one bogie.

I did try one of those RSO chassis under a Langley twin GWR railcar back in the 70s, it was poor. I think I still have it's motor somewhere but I can't see that ever being re-used. Eventually I cut and extended a Minitrix warship chassis and that was much better

You have an ancient Arnold motor there - does that still work?  It's probably the only thing worth keeping out of that lot, in case you pick up a 1970s Arnold steamer which takes that motor.   Wasn't worth the £16 in my opinion

[Papyrus]

Interesting. However, I've had a closer look at the chassis and apart from the fact that it has been cut up, it actually looks in very good condition. The commutators look pristine and the traction tyres are present and unworn. Bearing in mind that in a 2-car DMU it only needs to haul one coach it could be good enough. I'm willing to risk it anyway. I've wasted more than £16 over the years. I'm still annoyed about a steamer chassis advertised as non-runner. Certainly was - it had obviously caught fire at some point and it was jammed solid with melted plastic! I should have twigged when I saw the out of focus photo. Won't make that mistake again!

Cheers,

Chris

[icairns]

A little more information here:

https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=52219.msg680903#msg680903

Ian

[Papyrus]

Thanks Ian. Somehow my search hadn't pulled up that thread. Very interesting.

Cheers,

Chris