Big Blue has inspired some purchases

[jim currie]

just a hint for toning down Led's is scuff them with 400 to 600 grit sandpaper.
Jim

[TMo]

Wow! Never would have thought of that, but great tip Jim.

In this case I wanted the center headlights to be nice and bright, but I wanted the number boards to be legible rather than washed out.

[jim currie]

when i do headlights, t don't sand the front lens just the sides also sanding the sides gives some tooth for paint to hold on to which I often paint with silver.

[TMo]

Back for one more try with the brass Erie Lackawanna RS2... (pages 5 through 7 on this thread). After doing a little correspondence with Charlie, I got up a bit of gumption to try to install a DCC decoder that will last more than a minute or so while running on the layout. Put in another order for a Digitrax DN136 early this morning. Once I get it I'll be doing some additional work to further isolate the motor pickups from any potential contact with the shell and frame and doing a lot of resistance checks along the way. I've sorta fallen for some of this 70's Japanese brass and figure it's a good challenge that is worth trying.

[jim currie]

fixed one brass for boy so he could run it dcc that I did was to silicone a can motor to frame making sure of the aliment then letting silicone set up making sure of no frame contact.
Jim

[TMo]

Good tip, Jim. When I tear her apart again I'm going to look at the points of contact on the underside brushes as well.

[jim currie]

on the frame contact i coated the contact points with liquid tape.
Jim

[TMo]

Whoops.... did it again.

I occasionally catch a glimpse of a "good deal" or more likely "that COULD be a good deal" on ebay.  That was the case last fall when I was out on furlough and saw a Buy It Now (or maybe it was an auction with not much time left) for two locomotives - one a F9A (Bachmann I think (listed as a dummy)), the other an old blue box Athearn GP35.  I think for $20 + shipping I got them both.  They were both in Chessie System colors, and the dummy had been "weathered" (more like painted with black paint). 

Did a little research.  The Chessie never rostered any F9's, and there are some slight differences in carbody from the more popular F7, so converting it didn't trip my trigger.  The rear truck mounted motor was working, but the truck gearing was missing, it had a working headlight, but the motor was rather puny.  Not worth renovating in my opinion.  I cleaned off the black paint, but that also stripped some of the Chessie colors and decals off as well.  Put some decent couplers on it and put it up for sale on ebay and got 12 or 15 bucks for it and I was delighted.  Here's a shot of her just before selling:

   

Now the GP35.  What to do with her?  Opened her up and I was a bit disappointed to see that it was a older flywheel-less motor, but it seemed to move.  Checked out it's supplied road number, and although some of the B&O GP35s did get Chessie paint, the road number supplied was not one of those.  Another quirk was that the short hood nose had a set of vertically mounted headlights (2) in addition to the center cab headlights.  Of course, none of the Chessie units had those.  I'm guessing that in the blue box era Athearn didn't put all that much weight in being prototypical by roadname. 


   

 The Southern Pacific rostered some with a pair of horizontal headlights along with a class light above them, but I think the only vertical nose lights I found were for Western Pacific and Northern Pacific (love that paint scheme!) GP35s, all of which (I believe) would have been re-rostered to the Burlington Northern by 1976 when I model.  What to do with this unit?  Sell it as is?  Modify it for DCC and sell it?  Paint it in BN color and add decals?  Make it an NP unit?  I kicked things around and stuck the unit on my workbench and let it collect dust.

So today I was doing an internet search on GP35s with vertical headlights and LO AND BEHOLD, a picture of a Canadian National-rostered GP35 with vertical headlights appeared.  Turns out that the CN had a GRAND TOTAL of exactly 2 GP35s, one in the zebra strip paint scheme (road number 4001) and one in the black long hood with the big white CN on the side and a red cab.  They were still up and running in 1977, one of which (4000) was pictured in Kentucky on the head end of an L&N consist, so it looks like the CN was loaning power.  As many of you know, I recently added my first foreign power (a CN M420 last month which has caused all kinds of grief), and if I keep that one, wouldn't it be nice to pair it with another CN unit?  I'm smelling a new project....  Here's a link to pics of both 4000 and 4001.  

CN 4000  CN 4001

Inspired myself into a new project apparently.  Don't know when I'll begin it, but it's now on my mental list.  Note the red bell that replaces the cab mounted headlight....  might have to make sure I incorporate that.  DCC decoder obviously, conversion to a better motor, gotta buy decals, maybe a detail kit...  you can see where this is going....  "Good deal" = more money flying out of my pocket.

[TMo]

Kicking around which unit to model.... (4000 or 4001). I like both paint schemes - I guess I need to decide whether I want a twin to my current zebra strip M420 or not. In the meantime, I think I found a bell and bracket that should work from MPM Hobbies (https://mpmhobbies.com/products/ho-cmr-c...pc-4158506). Ordered it tonight. Still need CN worm decals and the proper CN Orange paint (ideally some Floquil if I can find it for a decent price), both of which I'll need regardless of the paint scheme. The old blue box GP35 shell is a little light on details, so I'm thinking of looking for at least some grab irons to add to it, and I think I should already have a set of M/U hoses. In digging around about the only 2 GP35's on the CN roster, I get conflicting reports on whether the dynamic brake blister had a fan. In looking at a bunch of pictures, some shots seem to have the fans, some don't which is weird.

[TMo]

CN paint and decals arrived this week - still waiting for my bell.  The shell's still in a bath of isopropyl alcohol.

Got my replacement motor out (this one has flywheels on each end) and looked at installing it in the GP35 chassis.  Hadn't thought I'd need to modify the cast chassis, but I do.  If I install the motor using the standard push mount (rubber style) mounts, the flywheels each bang into the frame before they seat - the old flywheel-less motor sat in there fine with no interference.  Dremel generated a pile of cast particles before I got rid of the interference.  Because the flywheels extend the driveshaft length of the motor, I also needed to modify the lengths of the shaft couplings to the truck gearing. 

       


In the end, I think I have something that will work, but for stability's sake, I also purchased a couple of motor mounts from evil bay ($7 for a set with free shipping) that secure with screws (Genesis style) from the bottom rather than the friction fit rubber style.  The screw-in type will also allow me to shim up the motor if I get too much interference between the back of each truck and each flywheel - not a lot of length in a GP35...  Once I get everything secured and rolling well, I'll install a decoder and see how she works.

[TMo]

Bruce's special deal was just too good to pass up - I received two N21 Conrail cabs early this week, and hidden in the bubble wrap was a special bonus surprise.  Of course, I had to immediately add them to the Welsh Trucking fleet (slapped some logos on them).  Road dust will go on them soon and I'll find special places to locate them on the layout.  Many thanks, Mr. Welsh!

   

[Charlie B]

Bruce is a one in  a million for sure. 
Charlie

[tompm]

Sweet looking trucks!

[TMo]

Thanks for the kudos on the trucks - they're going to fit in great.  

The main part of the package from Bruce (two N21's) are now proudly moving over tracks in the gorge.  N21s had a variety of bay window configurations, and I can't find any on the Conrail roster other than the window bumpout version (the non-Operation Lifesaver unit (Walthers) is a good example).  The Operation Lifesaver unit is an Athearn unit I believe.  Nice and heavy and certainly larger in size than the Walthers.  I did add a lead weight to the Walthers unit that I think came out of the Southern Pacific RS2 that I bequeathed to Matt for his current loco project.  Cab units tend to be smaller and lighter, and I've found adding weight helps them through switches when I reverse trains back into my storage yard.  A little light weathering and some detail painting at some point.

   

[TMo]

Made a bit more progress on the GP35. While the shell's soaking in a bath of alcohol I was able to retrofit the new motor to the old driveshafts - some slicing and dicing required to reduce shaft lengths. I also added a DCC decoder and a set of LED lights. Just ordered grab irons for it. Bell still hasn't arrived but the paint and the decal sheet have been delivered. Still debating on the paint scheme.