ATSF GP7u

[lajry]

I did see some brass GP7u from Hallmark during my recent trip in Denver and Dallas.
The brass model has been made by "Samhongsa" in Korea. Hallmark was the US importer located in Dallas. The dealer told me Hallmark is out of business for at least 10 years. The model is "somewhat" antique.

Most of the engines were incomplete and the "sound" was horrible at best. However one engine in Dallas looked good and I got it knowing I had to do some (serious?) rework on the drive at home.

Adding a DCC decoder was easy but the test run showed to key problems
- noise all over the engine
- pickup only on two wheels per truck. The engine stuck passing DCC booster border lines

The motor is not that bad but the trucks are made of "iron" and have only pickup on one side. Replacing the trucks is not easy because the mounting is very different and the hight of the mount and the motor drive shaft differs greatly from todays standards. That looked very complicated...

I got a much easier way to do it.
Take a standard P2K ATSF GP7/9 and replace only the short/long hood and the cab. The brass parts are glued in place. The complete drive is untouched. Only the weight had to be removed because the brass hoods are to narrow. However the brass parts added sufficient weight for my small layout. Minor adjustments in the P2K shell around the cab are easy to do.

The new parts need weathering and lamps are on order to be installed. The Hallmark engines had only front lamps.

It is a real hybrid of brass and plastic now. That does not worry me. I wanted a GP7u ready for work on the layout and got it

Reinhard
Here's an image of the real ATSF 2074: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2409786">http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2409786</a><!-- m -->
Just need to find a way to add a blanked over dynamic brake grid.
Or find one w/o them here:http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?mid=57