High Nose GP40 - Rescue Build - Part 5

Time for a long overdue update on progress with the GP40 rescue build.  I want to have this locomotive finished in time for the NMRA convention at Kegworth, I'm hoping to pick up some credit for my locomotives AP certificate.

Some clear weather this week and I managed to shoot the shell with gloss black and get the decals placed.

The fans are fitted and the top grilles will be on soon, I discovered I had made a rookie error in fitting the all weather windows before they were glazed, but luckily I managed to figure a method to fit the glazing in situ!

Next come the fibre optics and the handrails, my deadline for getting the model finished is friday and I still plan to weather the shell so I'm banking on a clear dry day before the end of the week.

 

 

Here is a shot of the shell with stage one weathering.  The dullcote and an initial grime pass.  Next stage will be localised dirt and streaking.

 



 

It's looking more like a hard working workhorse now.  :)

High Nose GP40 - Rescue Build - Part 4

I finally got some time to finish the remaining details on the GP40 rescue build, adding the high nose bell, all weather windows and the MU cables and pilot steps.

I filled the small gaps on the nose and gave the shell a shot of primer ahead of its trip to the RPM table at this weekend Holbrook show.

I've been brushing up on my airbrushing skills (airbrushing up?)  and the process was a lot less wasteful this time, previously I've ended up with a lot of overspray as a result of being a bit too heavy on the flow.

I'm pretty pleased with how it has turned out, aside from a small gap along the treadplate edge it is looking good and ready for painting.  Easily my fastest ever build, and although it's not going to be a contest winner, it's definitely a real improvement from how it looked when I bought it.

Next comes the paint and decals.  Watch this space.

High Nose GP40 - Rescue Build

I found this high nose Athearn GP40 going cheap on ebay and picked it up as a quick project.  The model has been fitted with a high-nose, which turned out to be a Cannon & Co part, but not much else has been done to the model.

It had one of the worst paint jobs I have seen in a long time, with really, really thick paint brushed on, followed by an extra generous layer of dullcoat.  A real mess!

 

 

I have an idea I might be able to spruce the model up in time to put it on the display table at the club show, this won't be a concourse model but I will add some basic details and
grabirons to make it more presentable.

First port of call is the dip tank, I sat the model in 91% alcohol overnight then scrubbed with a toothbrush, I couldn't prise the handrails off because of all the paint, so I left them on until the paint had softened enough.

I don't know what brand of paint the model has been painted with, but the thick N&W blue comes off fairly easily when scrubbed with a toothbrush, the original paint is underneath, revealing this was a Conrail unit when it left the factory.

The Cannon high-nose has been fitted in an unusual way, with the previous owner keeping the original Athearn hatches at the base instead of cutting flush with the deck making it apparent that the nose itself is very slightly out of place. 

There is a chance that it might need replacing but I will wait until all the paint is off before deciding.

The Athearn paint is proving harder to shift than the top coat, so I will leave the shell soaking for the rest of the day.

Athearn RTR GP35 - Project Locomotive

Another cheap geep for the Peoria project.  This one is an Athearn RTR GP35 in Western Pacific silver and orange livery. 

The ebay listing advertised it as a basket-case but this locomotive is actually in very good shape.  This is a reissue of the old Rail Power Products shell, with some extra detailing and see-through fans.  The chassis is DCC ready and it's a nice little model.  The only issues with this one are missing coupler pockets, snapped handrails and a front truck with damaged sideframes.

The previous owner has broken the sideframe mounting pins and then attempted to fix the problem by drilling holes through the plastic and using plastruct tube to refit the frames.  It's a bit of a mess of glue and plastic, so the easiest way to fix it will be a replacement truck (any Athearn GP7 or F7 truck will fit).  So it needs a little work, but for the price it was a steal.

Photograph of High Hood N&W #1309 from http://www.nwhs.org/

I plan to turn this loco into a high-hood N&W unit, the handrails will either be glued back together or replaced with brass wire and I will fit a Cannon high nose.

Norfolk and Western Redbirds - Tuscan Locomotives

I recently picked up a copy of "Norfolk & Western in Color Volume 3" by Morning Sun Books, an excellent book which I hoped might provide some useful reference for my planned Peoria layout.

The book has hundreds of full colour images showing a wealth of details on N&W and Norfolk Southern locomotives and facilities.  Really a great read and I highly recommend it.  See here for more details:  http://www.morningsunbooks.com/southcat.html#nw_v3

Image from Norfolk & Western in color - Morning Sun Books

One of the interesting finds in the book was a series of pictures showing the Tuscan Red C30-7's and SD40-2 that were delivered to N&W in 1978/79.  These locomotives featured a metallic red pain scheme with gold lettering and they look very sharp indeed.

Photograph by Leon Kay http://www.flickr.com/photos/8226029@N06/2255359017/

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=46167&nseq=9

I've ordered a set of Microscale decals (Set HO110) which cover the required logos and numbers for all seven units that featured this scheme.

http://www.shellscale.com/HO110page.htm

This should be a good project, although I am now on the lookout for a cheap C30-7 as a base unit for this project. There are several different versions available, including an old Railpower shell and versions by Atlas and Broadway Limited so I'm sure something will turn up sooner or later.

Modelling the Peoria Local - Motive Power

Here is a look at the second part of the Prototype Modeler magazine article on modeling the Peoria Local train.  This is from the September/October 1988 issue and details how to build and detail two of the most common locomotives then seen on the Bloomington line.

The article covers two different locomotives, a high nose Southern GP38-2 and a low nose N&W GP30, the older geep being unusual as a low nose unit because most of these locomotives were high hood units on the Norfolk & Western and Southern routes.

The article goes into a lot of detail on how to improve and detail the old Front Range (Bachmann) GP30 and create a detailed and accurate model of these unique locomotives.
A great project and two very nice looking locomotives, although these days there are off the shelf options for both of these prototypes, including the Life Like Proto 2000 GP30 (in both high and low nose versions) and the new Athearn Genesis GP38-2 as a high nose Southern prototype.

The Athearn Genesis GP38-2 in Southern Livery 

The Proto 2000 GP30 High Nose in Norfolk and Western Livery 

I will definitely be picking up one of the new Athearn GP38-2's when they are released at the end of the year, but getting a Proto 2000 high nose GP30 will be a lot harder, they really seem to be like gold dust, even the low nose versions are thin on the ground.  I will be keeping an eye on ebay just in case one becomes available.

You can read the entire article on this link here:  Link

Modelling the Peoria local

As my collection of locomotives and rolling stock continues to grow, I've been planning to build a home layout.

With that in mind, I've been hunting for a suitable prototype railroad to use as inspiration, and I had considered modelling the Detroit Connecting Railroad as a switching layout, but the lack of large engines was a drawback (the DCR only uses GE 44 Ton centercab engines).

I recently picked up a job lot of old modelling magazines, including several issues of Prototype Modeler Magazine.  One of these featured an in-depth article on the Gibson - Peoria local line through Goodfield and Bloomington in the late eighties.

I was intrigued by the cover photograph which shows a high nose GP9 leading a train across the Mackinaw river.

The line is still in use today and some views have not changed much as this recent photograph by Flickr user McKayak shows:

Photograph by McKayak on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/22800108@N06/

The line served several different industries, including the Caterpillar plant at Morton and various lumber mills, grain elevators and also the Nissan car plant at Diamond Star motors.



This recent shot of the Midwest Paper plant shows the opportunities for small industrial switching, the plant hasn't changed much if at all since the eighties.

Passing through Bloomington the line has a great 'downtown' feel, and I will definitely be aiming to capture the feel of the above photograph.

The line also featured a diverse range of motive power during the late eighties, including Delaware & Hudson engines, Southern GE engines and the regular Norfolk & Western and Norfolk Southern power.

So this line is a really great source of inspiration for a layout, and the time period of the late eighties is of interest not only for the variety of motive power, but also the fact that it fits my own personal modelling history as it was the same time that I first became interested in modelling US railroads.

You can read the article I was inspired by on this link, its from the July/August 1988 issue of Prototype Modeler magazine which covered the route in detail.  Read the article here.