Introduced: 1968
Unlike the other really bad Mehano locomotives imported by Atlas in the late 1960s (IE, Mehano's GP40 and SD45 models), this one had a blessedly short lifespan. To their credit, Atlas dropped the entire evil triumverate circa the mid 1970s. But for reasons beyond my ken, the GP40 and SD45 models were ultimately picked up by PMI (and subsequently Model Power) and marketed for way longer than they deserved. Happily, this RSC-2 was relegated to the dustbin of bad locomotive history fairly early on its in wretched existance.
This is a tremendously awful locomotive. Yes, it's able to navigate a circle of track (usually without tipping over or stalling out). But let's face it, it's a joke otherwise. Traction tires eat up a quarter of the pick-up potential (making for iffy contact with the rails and a very wobbly ride). The cheap 5-pole motor and plastic moving parts turn into a shaking, buzzing monster when current is applied. The paint is terrible, the handrails are huge and brittle, the couplers are truck-mounted Rapidos, the pilots are wide open, electrical current is ferried around via wires and the non-directional headlight lights up the entire nose from within. In a word - yuck.
Grade: F