Wil's Slide Box

LegomanBill May 8, 2017

  1. badlandnp

    badlandnp TrainBoard Member

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    U-boat memories! Sweet! They had a very unusual glitchy OLD school transistor. For old heads that remember early electronics. The Generator field was controlled by a single transistor of the old can type, About a 3'4 in sized thing. The neat thing about these is that when they fail, they short circuit. What that does then is it applies maximum field to the generator! This, of course, can cause issues!

    My first experience with that particular problem was rather exciting! I had just fired up a unit we had rebuilt, and set it to do a "1 and 1." That is a stall check, powered up in notch one against full independent brake application. It should yield 300 amps and no movement.

    However, on this unit, I made sure the brakes were set, and handbrake, and wedges. Then fired it up, checked various voltages and charging rates, then climbed in the seat and set up for the "1 and 1" test. Put her in notch one and watched the ammeter peg at over 2000 amps!!!! She lurched over the wedges and moved about 6 feet towards the shop door before I could put it back in idle! Talk about pucker!!!

    My foreman stepped over to the floor beside my cab and had this grin on his face that said a lot! He was an old GE guy and knew exactly what to swap out, so I swapped out the FC card and tried again, same thing! Tried a third used card and proceeded to respond normally. WOW!!! To be fair, after I got outside with the unit, I tried this a few more times and discovered that the locomotives Load Regulator did it's job and ran the field signal down to 300 amps, after moving 8 - 12 feet down the track! The load regulator Is a hydraulic device that drops the electrical load to match the diesels rpm.

    To say that the dash 7 was a step up from these knuckle breakers is saying a LOT!
     
  2. LegomanBill

    LegomanBill TrainBoard Member

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    BN U25C 5622, ex-NP 2522, Denver, CO, Early 1970s (Bob Jordan)
    [​IMG]

    BN U28C 5653, ex-CB&Q 565, Denver, CO, Early 1970s (Bob Jordan)
    [​IMG]
     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Looking at this unit number, it seemed very familiar. Then I realized that was due to the fact the Milwaukee Road had a U30C of the same number. :)
     
  4. LegomanBill

    LegomanBill TrainBoard Member

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    BN SD9 6236, ex-C&S 841, Denver, CO, mid-1990s (Bob Jordan)
    [​IMG]

    BN SD45 6419, ex-NP 3619, Denver, CO, early 1970s (Bob Jordan)
    [​IMG]
     
  5. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    What an odd paint scheme on the nose of that SD9. Glad that didn't catch on.
     
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  6. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    The paint scheme was standard at the time. The odd part is seeing it on a high nose unit.
     
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  7. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    You are right, I guess I should have said I'm glad it didn't get put on many of the high nose units.
     
  8. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    That SD9 was a late run as it had 2 48" cooling fans, also the can and short hood are about 9" taller than the long hood.
    There is just more there to see and paint.
    I been working on a HO scale version for 10 years or more. One of those round to it type projects.
     
  9. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    It does kind of look like an NW5 on steroids.
     
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  10. LegomanBill

    LegomanBill TrainBoard Member

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    BN SD45 6429, ex-NP 3629, Denver, CO, early 1970s (Bob Jordan)
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    BN SD45 6430, the famed Hustle Muscle (ex-GN 400), Denver, CO, Early 1970s (Bob Jordan)
    [​IMG]
     
  11. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    The original! Love it!
     
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  12. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thankfully Hustle Muscle and an NP SD45 have been saved!
     
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  13. LegomanBill

    LegomanBill TrainBoard Member

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    BN SD45 6439, ex-GN 409, Denver, CO, early 1970s (Bob Jordan)
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    BN SD45 6444, ex-GN 414, Denver, CO, early 1970s (Bob Jordan)
    [​IMG]
     
  14. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Flares! I love it! Keep it coming!!
     
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  15. ddechamp71

    ddechamp71 TrainBoard Member

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    Me too !

    Dom
     
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  16. ddechamp71

    ddechamp71 TrainBoard Member

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    If one speaks about good ol' U-Boats, do you guys know that some were still running less than 15 years ago, even if it was beyond the border ?

    I shot the sample below in 2006, in Yucatan, Mexico... An ex Southern Ry, NS and Georgia Central U23B, keeping its road number all its life long. I just don't know what is this unit's current status, even if I guess it has been withdrawn..

    Uayma 36.jpg Uayma 45.jpg


    Dom
     
  17. LegomanBill

    LegomanBill TrainBoard Member

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    BN SD45 6509, Denver, CO, early 1970s (Bob Jordan)
    [​IMG]

    BN F45 6600, ex-GN 427, Denver, CO, April 1972 (Bob Jordan)
    [​IMG]
     
  18. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Not only SD45s, but F45s! Love it!
     
  19. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    Nothing like a 20 cylinder ground-pounder!!:love:
     
  20. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    I wish that the SP had F45's...or better yet, F45-T2's...
     

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