New York Central Train Layout: 2026

Greetings All,

Locomotive Spotlight #1-2026

New York Central RS32 #8040

Welcome to another post in the continuing Locomotive Spotlight series. Today the spotlight will shine on a used Atlas Trainman NYC Alco RS32 #8040 that joined the fleet in mid December, 2025. Lets take a look at the prototype and the model.

Prototype Information

The locomotive horsepower race was in full stride by 1962 when Alco introduced the 2400-hp RS27 (DL640) and 2000-hp RS32 (DL721) in an effort to stay ahead of competitors General Motors and General Electric.

Powered by a new V16-251C prime mover, the two road units were precursors to Alco's soon-to-be-announced four-axle Century series C424 (DL640A) and C420 (DL721A). Neither of the two four-axle models gained wide acceptance.

Designated as a "DL721" by Alco, the 2,000 hp RS-32 was intended to compete with EMD's GP20 and GE's U25B locomotives. Thirty Five units were produced, with twenty five ordered by New York Central (8020-8044) delivered in 1961 and 1962. The NYC RS32s were later renumbered to 2020-2044 for the pending merger with the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The "launch pad" at West Detroit was a frequent Alco hang-out. (Ray Sabo photo, March 1967)**

When new the New York Central assigned the RS32s to its trademark Flexi-van service or to hot NY-4/NY-2 meat trains. Later the RS32s could be found in both road and local freight assignments.

"New York Central Alco RS32 2038" by Digital Rail Artist is marked with CC0 1.0.

Ten units were ordered by the Southern Pacific (7300-7309) in 1962. Southern Pacific's units were initially used in road service and could also be found leading hotshot trains up and down the California coastline.

"SP 7302 at Lenzen service track Feb 1966xRP" by drewj1946 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The SP RS32s were later renumbered from the 7300 series to the 4000-4009 series and later settled into local freight service in San Francisco's "commute" territory. Here they were sometimes called upon to rescue stalled commuter trains. They later migrated across the system, ending their SP careers in Texas during the late 1970s with various other Alco models.

"Southern Pacific Alco RS32 4002" by Digital Rail Artist is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Both railroads retired their RS32s during the late 1970s. Some of the RS32s found homes on short line railroads and continued to soldier on.

"DL 211 Alco RS32" by eisenbahnstudio is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Model Information

From Atlas

Atlas Trainman® locomotives and rolling stock are less detailed than Atlas Master products but feature rugged construction and molded parts and a budget-friendly price that makes them great for modelers of all ages. The Atlas Trainman HO Scale New York Central RS32 #8040 model was part of their first run of this type of locomotive from Atlas that was released in 2006. A second NYC RS32 #8036 was also offered at this time.

Over the last twenty years Atlas continued to release these models with the last release being in 2023 at which time the RS32 /RS36 models were upgraded to Atlas Silver products which have more detail and a higher price.

The NYC 8040 Gets Unboxed

The twenty year old Atlas Trainman NYC 8040 model ran well out of the box but only in one direction when being powered by some of my DC controllers. What? So I removed the shell to investigate.

And found to my surprise that the model was DCC equipped!!

After some research I learned that to revert the model back to DC I needed an eight pin DCC dummy plug. Where am I going to get that? Hello, Sir Neal!! After a brief consultation Sir Neal offered sage advice and sent me a pair of dummy plugs that very day. There it is installed under the supervision of 1:87 scale Sir Neal Himself!!

From the APRR to the NYCTL

For some fun I'm imagining that a short time after the phone call the 1:87 scale two dummy plugs were placed in PC boxcar #149613 and sent out in the next train to Selkirk for quick movement to the NYCTL engine terminal.

Dock workers move the crate towards the forklift.

The crate is carried into the engine shop.

After having the dummy plug installed RS32 8040 eases out of the engine shop.

The RS32 appears to be ready for revenue service but it's not. For whatever reason the Patti-O Paint Shop employees (me) painted the corner handrails white. Ugh... Back to the shop it goes.

That's much better!!

The yellow corner handrails will now allow me to sleep at night.

The 8040 sits on the ready track awaiting it next assignment. Note the semi scale Kadee whisker couplers that came with the model.

The NYC 8040 makes its first revenue runs.

The good nights sleep didn't last long... On January 3rd I painted the 8040 handrails yellow to match prototype photos and the rest of my NYC fleet. Why didn't I do this earlier you may ask. The answer is laziness.

A few days later we catch the 8040 coupled up to Atlas NYC RS1 9909 amidst some Baldwin S12s and an EMD GP35- Alco PA2 consist in the engine terminal. More on that to follow in a future post!

Shout Out to 1:1 Scale Sir Neal!!

A very big thank you to 1:1 Scale Sir Neal for his advice, generosity and quickly sending the DCC dummy plugs my way so I could get this engine running bi-directionally and into service on the layout.

Final Thoughts and Comments

The twenty year old Atlas 8040 had little wear on the wheels but lots of dust on the shell when it arrived. It looks to have been lightly used and possibly a display locomotive for a time. It cleaned up easily and once the dummy plug was installed it was ready for primetime on the layout.

The 8040 runs very nicely with my Atlas Penn Central RS32s and may get renumbered 2040 for the pending PC merger.

Additional Links

Wikipedia RS32 page.

The Diesel Shop RS32 page.

American Rails RS32 page.

Atlas RS32 / RS36 Models.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!