GEC's roster thread

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Wow, my Original post was to big, so i'll fit it all in sections.


Into The Blue

While Conrail in its early years was still a mixed bag of colors, it wasted no time painting units in blue (some only months before retirement).

E44A #4456 was the first of its type painted blue (E44 #4414 was the first blue E44), painted sometime in mid 1977. This was another one of the 5,000 Horsepower rebuilds.



In addition to PRR's fleet of electrics, Conrail also harbored a few electrics from the New Haven. 10 E33 rectifiers made it to Conrail. The E33s started life out as "EL-C"s on the Virginian railway between 1956-57. They ran for a short time on the Norfolk Western (long enough for some to receive an N&W paint job), before being sold as a bargain to the New Haven. Re-Classified EF-4, these were New Haven's attempt to restart its Electric services after the railroad realized it had made a mistake in abandoning electric locomotives. These engines would become the most powerful (and one of the longest/largest) locomotives on New Haven's roster. The New Haven used one of the 12 as a parts supply, and that was scrapped immediately upon the merger with Penn Central. Would-be PC 4600 became the new parts supply, and was re-classed E33. 4601-4910 would all make it to Conrail and serve until a few months before the end of Conrail electrification.

At this point, these locomotives literally had 5 railroads worth in paint schemes. two units survive, one painted back into Virginian, and Conrail 4601, which surprisingly, has its New Haven paint showing through the Conrail blue and PC Black.

As a model, i repainted #4608 to more accurately represent Conrail's paint job and is one of my earliest weathering attempts. An interesting note on the E33s, the "Snail" logo is shorter on the left side than the right side, which is closer to standard length. This is due to an inverted J shaped duct that would otherwise be in the way (which can be seen on the E44 above). This is as opposed to the E44s, in which the logos on both sides are short.



#4603 is a stock Bachmann E33. they are good runners, but the model is clearly based on the New Haven era for the locomotive (not to mention the paint job is incorrect). Compare it with #4608 above. You can see a boxy apparatus on each end of 4603, as well as wires along the roof. These are Bus connectors that allow the E33s to run from electricity collected by a second locomotive. The New Haven was even known to run some E33s completely missing a pantograph, relying on it's sister for juice (though this was more frequently done to reduce wear on the pantographs). At least one New Haven E33, #301, carried a faively type pantograph (like on the E44s, as opposed to the usual diamond shaped pantograph). That could make an interesting New Haven model. I believe this unit became the new "parts" unit at the time of the Penn Central merger, would-be 4600.

One carry over from the New Haven days was the practice of running the E33s in pairs. While single or triple headed E33 trains did occur, They were more often then not run in pairs (One Penn Central memo i found that summarizes the E33s explicitly recommends running in pairs). This continued into Conrail. Despite their similarities, the E33s could not MU with the E44s (though i have seen photos of at least one train consisting of E44s and E33s with their pantographs raised)



SD9 #6923 was one of Conrail's former PRR engines. The 25 of these were retired sometime around 1980, though they did have busy careers as yard/hump switchers and local power on their time with Conrail.



One short lived oddball repainted to Conrail blue was F7A 1648, which would be renumbered to 1792 In anticipation of the GP15-1s. It is the only F-unit to get the Blue paint. Interestingly, it was retired 4 months prior to the first GP15-1 was built. None of Conrail's F7s lasted past the late 70s. This is an MRC model, and it is not perfect. The prototype 1648 featured only a small "CR" patch, with no other lettering or logo. Luckily, this could be an easy fix if i ever choose to rework this model. In truth, it is a good running unit, but i have yet to add DCC so it sits on my shelf. Perhaps if i can find some other PC or EL F-units to MU it with, i may add an F-unit Conrail train to my roster, however short lived they were.



An Equally short lived oddball was Conrail's 2 U28B locomotives. These were former New York Central units were oddballs from birth until death, being the only units of their type on the NYC/PC/Conrail rosters. 2822 and 2823 were retired together in March of 1983. While it is a beautiful Proto 2000 locomotive, it is actually wrong. While the New York Central and Penn Central versions have the correct nose, for some reason, Lifelike decided to put Nose-mounted headlights on the Conrail version. I asked about a replacement nose, and they told me they had "photographs" of it with a nose light. I call BS, i have photos of them on the day they scrapped them, no nose light. Even the "best" companies make mistakes. to bad no one makes a GE nose. why cannon sticks to just EMD parts is beyond me.



Another Interesting Unit to get the Blue treatment is the SD45-2. #6660 is one of 13 former Erie Lackawanna units. These SD45-2s were unique amongst their own kind, as well as on the Conrail roster. They had several features that the Erie Lackwanna requested, such as low mounted horns and short roof-top fans. They also featured a larger fuel tank than other SD45-2s. A small group in conrail's starting roster, The were the only Conrail engines to feather EMD's new HT-C trucks. Until the SD60s, Conrail preferred the older flexicoil trucks, and even had flexicoil trucks taken from old SD35 and SD45s installed on new SD40-2s. Unlike standard SD45s, All except 2 of Conrail's SD45-2s made it to the CSX and Norfolk Southern, and many still run today.



U23B 2735 represents one of Penn Central's contributions to the Conrail roster. While this unit runs "the right way", some Penn Central U23Bs were actually made to run Long hood forward (backwards). these units kept their short noses. Conrail was actually the last buyer of the domestic U-boat locomotive, Conrail U23B 2798 being the last U-boat made for US rails.

As a model, it is one of my favorite units to run, and another early weathering attempt. This poor model actually sat at a local hobby shop forlorn for years before i picked up the hobby (i remember it distinctly), until i bought it at an extreme discount back in the summer of 2006.



Yet another interesting unit that was initally unique on Conrail's roster was the former Reading Company GP40-2s. These 5 units (3275-3279) were the only GP40-2s on Conrail's starting roster, despite already being available several years in advance of Conrail's start up. It would not be until 1977 that Conrail would buy some new to their specifications. Many modifications such as Cab Signal Boxes were made when they joined Conrail. They are recognizable by their small fuel tanks, later Conrail GP40-2s had larger ones.



SD40 6345 is a former PRR unit that made it all the way to conrail. It continued all the way into 1994 and was then sold to EMD as a leasing unit (now EMD #6404). As a model, it is one of my earliest attempts at using an Airbrush to weather an engine, and an early detail project (though it is not complete yet). It runs beautifully, and its likely one of the next models to get a decoder.



This Athearn GP7 is my third HO locomotive, and the oldest i have that still runs and looks good, despite its "fat body" shell. Representing a former New Haven GP9, this model has literally been everywhere. It was accidentally packed on a summer camp to Rhode Island i went on back in 2004, and survived all sorts of horrific rains and storms, and still ran just fine when set on the tracks. My earliest of all attempts at detailing and weathering happened to this engine. from dry brushing grime on the vents and trucks, to creating windows with "Micro Kyrstal Clear", to painting in the fan blades and re-covering the grills to make it look like fans were below, to sunshades, there are a lot of first attempts on this piece. For some reason i haven't painted the pilots black.