Freelance 2013

[faraway]

Reinhard
The GP7/9 angle cabs were developed & done in Topeka KS not Cleburne. Hence the term "Topeka Cab". Trying to find some historical documentation but no luck so far.

So, the angled cab has been invented in Cleburne for the CF7 but has later been "reinvented" and manufactured in Topeka for the GP7u? The CF7 book states that the GP7u has been done in Cleburne too. That means Topeka build the GP7u angled cab and send it to Cleburne for assembly?
A discussion in Trainorders states that Topeka did do some design work on the angled cab for the GP7u but all actual build was done in Cleburne. That is still somehow confusing because the angled cab has been invented/designed some years earlier by Cleburne for the CF7. Wonder what Topeka did in detail.

My second engine is still in the shop. The long time used dull coat got some white spots possibly because I sprayed it at the extreme hot (95°) balcony yesterday.


Some hours later a first test run on the layout. The lights are missing and the roof is still empty. Need to do a BNSF baby pink A/C unit if I can stand it....


But I am conceptional thinking about the future of the two GP7u. They are fine for switching in SoCal after the year 2000 but they are also a great base for some "patching" to get some more or less fictional class III switching operation. MAW etc. are great examples but do not fit into my layout so well. Oakland terminal switching would be the next prototype. But it had only one engine and unique lettering at the long hood.