I am fascinated by the paint scheme of the St. Maries River Railroad. A small railroad mainly hauling lumber in rockies. Now, how that that fit into my layout? No, it doesn't fit at all but I like it
The prototype has three (101 - 103) GP9 http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/modelth...TMA&mid=49

It is nice trying to improve the Walthers Trainline GP9m engines with parts I have on stock only. I knew from a MILW GP9m I did several years ago that the drive is not that bad if the motor gets under control of a good DCC decoder. And indeed two run nice one needs some attention later on.

This is the current status:

It's a great paint scheme. They also had a pair of SW1200s.

If you like a paint scheme and don't know how to fit it into your layout, do like some of us do - freelance. You can model a short line that took over a branch.

It's certainly possible to do modern logging in a very small area:[attachment=11065]
I have a logging line on my layout that's one of several micro layouts with main line connections. The scenic challenges and opportunities in something like this are a lot of fun.

Reinhard, I also like that paint scheme.

Now, what are the odds that you tear out the layout and begin work on a logging railroad?

Gentleman, do not worry. It is freelance and it will stay freelance somewhere in the south with sandy ground cover.
May be they got bigger engines up in the rockies to do the lumber and could acquire a contract to service industry down in the south. So they sent the old Geeps into the sun to do the industry. Or the engines will run only during night when no railfans are present and you will never know

The third engines runs fine now too. The trucks needed some grease at the axis of the gearwheels. The wheels had a bath in lube but the axis were absolute dry. Walthers uses wipers in the trucks like Bachmann does in their newer low end Geeps too. I prefer the brass bearings common used by Lifelike, Atlas etc. Wipers have a tendency to be misaligned by nature.

Can't finish from available parts only. I have no horns....

That's it for now. The horns are missing and the light handling with front light, number boards and cab illumination from Walthers is awful. It needs some attention and redesign some time later.

So how about some shots of them at work?

jwb Wrote:So how about some shots of them at work?

Yes Sir

Looks good -- given the low price and the at least acceptable running, I'm thinking they might be a way to get to an IC GP8. . . same as you, I have some detail parts that could be used.

jwb Wrote:Looks good -- given the low price and the at least acceptable running, I'm thinking they might be a way to get to an IC GP8. . . same as you, I have some detail parts that could be used.

I assume you are looking after the orange/white paint scheme. The handrails are very well glued at some points. That might be a problem if you are masking and spray the shell.

That is an appealing scheme Looks great working on your layout!

The early morning job is under way

The cab glass, number boards and the front light needed some rework.

- The number boards have been filled with thin styrene (3 * 6mm, 0.118 * 0.236"), painted black and got number decals 101 - 103
- The cab glass has been separated into glass panes per window and glued in place. The front light part has been cut off the front window. The number board part has been left in place as an alignment aid
- The front light is still the old bulb but it got a piece shrink tube that interfaces it to two optical fibers running through the cab. The fibers have been cut flush at the outside of the cab. Walters did also use some shrink tube on the bulbs. I toke that as an indication that the bulbs will not become to hot and shrink tube is ok.

Old bulb unit right and new bulb/fiber unit connected to the engine


New light unit glued at the same place as the old one has been


Looking funny until cut flush. Note the still blank new number boards


The cab with front light unit and separated window glasses


All set

Amazing work Reinhard. Your posts are always a delight.