GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Love that shot!
Ralph

Coming along nicely...
Love the retaining wall in that last pic. Is it a commercial casting or a DIY..??

Thats over at the Burlington County Model Railroad Club. I also love that shot, I wish it were a little more clear, but it makes that Silverliner lookg good. All it needs is some Reading Company Wires!

I'll ask at tonight's meeting about the retaining wall. I suspect its a commercially available retaining wall, but I know its kitbashed into that retaining wall from the original piece. They started making molds of these things as the original company that made it appears to be gone.

The irreplaceable but departed Frank Cicero had an E60 article in RMC -- he said the Walthers/GK underframe is reversed to the position of the roof detail. The guts of a GK/Walthers are basically Athearn blue box, so it's your choice whether that's better than a current-run Bachmann -- if they're anything like the GP9 or S-4, I'd even give the Bachmann a slight edge.

I saw an E60 in the background of his AL46 article, but I have not yet found that E60 Article. Do you have the Issue date? I have put together a nice NJ Transit E60, though I have not finished detailing it.

When it comes to the difference between the Bachmann and The American GK units, there is no doubt. I can coax that Bachmann into pulling about 7 un-oiled Amfleet cars (maybe more) at a moderate pace on level track. However, with a little extra weight (not even useing the Bull-frog snot), I can get the American GK E60s to pull a 13 car passenger train up a 4% grade without yielding.

On the other end, the Bachmann units are only the "standard", not Spectrum, and they are light weight. The inside is packed though, with the motor and "on-board" DCC decoder.

I kinda wish I can squeeze more performance out of them, since I'd like to be able to pull long trains with them as well. The bachmann model is the E60CP (steam heat) version , while the American GK is the E60CH (Head End Power) version. The E60CPs appeared to be typically used on long distance trains consisting of "heritage" cars, while the E60CHs seemed to be handling more Amfleet consists which tended to be shorter.

For Example, the Silver meteor would more likely be hauled behind An E60CP or a GG1, but not the E60CH.

Here is my NJ Transit unit. This is one of two surviving E60s in real life.