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Yesterday I recieved a phone call from a fellow modeler from here in Las Cruces while on his summer vacation. He was calling from the Intermountain Plant. It was relayed to me that Intermountain folks were extra nice and gave Mike the full tour (thanks Brett). Mike told me that they let him actually fondle the AC12 prototype and provided him with a running demo as well. He said the locomotive was placed on a UniTrack 11 3/4" figure 8 and left running fo at least an hour and it was the smoothest running steam loco he had ever seen and Mike has been an N Scale collector for years. Mike says the detail work on the cab , boiler and railings is of the highest quality and he was blown away by the over all offering !!
He said that Intermountain says they are on the way and should be here in Sept. or Oct.
I am saving up my pennies!!

Mike
AC12?
Sorry for being a modern diesel guy...But what one is an AC12?
Is that the cab forward version of the Challenger?
eightyeightfan1 Wrote:AC12?
Sorry for being a modern diesel guy...But what one is an AC12?
Is that the cab forward version of the Challenger?
It is .
Thanks , Mike
Thanks for the confirmation.
Thought it was, but wasn't sure.
Wasn't there also a AC11 version of the cab forward?
I know..Modern diesel guy. But I do read about anything railroad related.
There's actually AC-1 through AC-12 (minus 9), plus come MC's, MM-2 & AM-2 in the cab forward classes as well.
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Wow! Blew the boards off the snow sheds!!!!! Job security for several carpenters there I guess.
I liked the story of the hobos on the monkey deck.
Nice bit of info.
Thanks.
Hi All:
I model in N Scale and saw the projected Intermountain Cab Forward at the Prototype Rails Convention in Cocoa Beach in January. It is a great looking locomotive.
While I model in N, my club is predominately HO and we have a good size HO scale layout. The club layout era is middle 50's and runs from San Bernadino to Victorville, Ca and another level that goes from Denver to Pueblo, Co. I wanted a locomotive to run and wanted to be a bit different than the others so I bought a BLI AC-5 with sound. What a great locomotive!! When we have visitors, many of the members opt to run the Cab Forward as it runs great, has great sound, and it is different looking. The design always gives an opportunity to explain why the cab is forward, so the crew isn't asphyxiated.
Suffice it to say, I am saving my sheckles so I can buy the N Scale Intermountain Cab Forward. Besides a great model, it being different from the normal articulateds, it is always a good conversation item and enjoyable to watch.
dwight77
The cab forwards were an innovative solution to a problem, but, in my opinion, the AC-9s were the best-looking ones of the lot. Wink Goldth

Wayne
eightyeightfan1 Wrote:AC12?
Sorry for being a modern diesel guy...But what one is an AC12?
Is that the cab forward version of the Challenger?

Actually it's a backwards Yellowstone with it's 4-8-8-2 wheel arrangement, Challengers were 4-6-6-4's.
eightyeightfan1 Wrote:Thanks for the confirmation.
Thought it was, but wasn't sure.
Wasn't there also a AC11 version of the cab forward?
I know..Modern diesel guy. But I do read about anything railroad related.

The AC-10, -11 and -12 were virtually the same just a few minor detail differences and build dates....the SP engineering department must have figured 'why mess with a good thing' or in other words 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'.
I used to have a cab-forward powered reefer train that I ran on a sectional layout at train shows. There were 4 of the Rivarossi HO cab-forwards in the train and all were powered. The train consisted of 90 Red Caboose SP-UP PFE reefers with a cab-forward every 30 cars and the caboose tacked on the rear behind the last loco. Now I'm beginning to wish I hadn't sold the train when I was getting ready to move half way across the country. Why is hindsight always 20/20 anyway? :|
Trolleyfan: That would have been one impressive refer train....with four cab forwards.
You are lucky your hindsight is only 20/20....mine usually ends up being 20/15..... 35
dwight77
Yes, it was impressive, and it was longer than my 125 car ore train pulled by a rebuilt Akane DM&IR Yellowstone or my 100 car CGW freight train pulled by 8 powered Stewart/Kato F-3's in an A-B-B-B-B-B-B-A lash-up. I sold the ore train so I could put the CGW train together and sold the CGW train so I could put the SP reefer train together. I sold the reefer train when I got transfered from Minnesota to Washington only to discover that houses cost way more out here than they did in Minnesota and most don't have basements because it rains so much of the time. I'm trying to get transfered back to Minnesota so I can afford to have room to model more than streetcars and interurbans again, the only downside is that the value of the condo I ended up buying has dropped. Sad