n scale engine

[harryo]

  I just purchased an N scale engine from ebay .Its marked MRC made in Yugoslavia.the only other info I have is it's lettered for the CN #3220.the seller listed it as a dropped nose diesel.I know this is asking alot but can anyone give me any idea of the age of this engine?

[James in FL]

Try searching at Spookshow.

http://www.visi.com/%7Espookshow/locos.html

[Train Nutz]

The MRC engine was manufactured for Model Rectifier Corporation the same company who makes the Tech 4 power packs,sound systems & DCC system and boards. Their line of N Scale engines go way, way back to the being of N Scale. I would think that either Mechano or Roco probably made the engine you have. It could easily be over 30yrs old. I can remember seeing MRC loco's in my loco hobbyshop I believe around 1968 or 69? It should follow the same practice of other manfacturers of the time were the loco has power pickup in the front truck and is motorized at the rear one. My questions for you is have you tested it out & how does it run? Some locos at that time either ran sporatically (mostly bad) but their were a few gems. I have an old catalog from the late 60's which gives actual MT conversions for MRC engines. That is probably one of a few conversions I haven't done yet. Those older styles were a pain compared to the ease of things today (usually a drop in replacement oppose to cutting, hacking, sawing, modifing and pulling your hair out. lol) Concider yourself owning a piece of N Scale history now all you have to is figure out which diesel you have as the info you provided doesn't tell much. The drop nose maybe referring to low nose but theirs a heck of a lot of low nose engines made thru the years so you need to provide more info like....how many wheels on each truck? Number of fans at the top of the engine? Does it have a walkway down both sides of engine behind the cab or it doesn't have any?
Unless someone is familiar with the MRC brand and can look up the roadnumber it maybe be hard to determine what it is just by the number itself. My Official Locomotive Roster book of 1992 for Canadian National goes from just #3100 (RS 18 loco ) and jumps to #3500 to #3579 (for M420 locos). Back during the time that MRC engines was made I don't recall anyone making a RS18 but I do remember C420's which is the American version to the M420's which were made in Canada by Alco. It's very possible the one you own is this style of loco. The spotting features are that each truck have 3 wheels to each side, a longated lownose on the front and a large radiator fan on the top of the loco at the very rear. Also the front and rear of the loco has scallop notches to the right and left sides. Check yours to see if any of this info idenifies it in anyway. If it doesn't keep trying.
                                              Train Nutzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Franz T]

Back then it was common practice for manufactures to put whatever livery they thought would sell on whatever model they had handy, regardless of whether the road in question actually owned any of that particuler engine model. (although there are probably no Amtrak Big Boys out there ). Road numbers were even less reliable. Prototype research by manufacturer is a fairly recent innovation. That being said, the term "dropped nose diesel" would lead me to suspect it being a RSD15, made by Mehano. These were a varied batch, I actually had one that ran reasonably well (for 1970's standards)
Check out the RSD15 at the link James provided to see if it looks familiar

Franz T

PS: Mehano also made a C420, so try that one too..

[jwoj69]

HI I WOULD ASSUME ABOUT 15 TO 20 YEARS. MODEL POWER STILL SALES THEM!!!