Kato announced two new diesels in SP Daylight livery. ALCO PA/PBs and EMD E8s. I did a writeup in my blog post on them today. Looks like October is going to be an expensive month for me.
Hey Lownen, The SP had just one E8(#6018). The rest of the E's were E9's. The 6018 had the straight pilot or what folks like to call the passenger pilot. All of the E9's came with the "freight" pilot.(Like the F units). Just a little FYI. Have a good one, Wolf
Wolf; Good info. It makes me wonder why, when they've just released UP E9s that they are doing E8s in SP. What's really interesting is that they are offering 6018, the number you cite, and 6046. But the photo of their older model has the number 6053 on it.
Yup Bloody nose would be cool. With the nose ladders. Skirts removed. 5 chime horns. Lownen, Only Kato knows why they do what they do. They have done the E's with the straight pilot. Hopefully when the 6018 is released, it will have that feature.Externally,the difference between E8's and E9's is minimal.(Something about a gasket around the headlight). Kato should label the units per the road number they give the model.They obviously know what the road numbers are. As far as E7B's go, I have put both Lifelike and Con-Cor E7B's on Kato chassis. Works pretty darn good. Have a good one, Wolf
[quote As far as E7B's go, I have put both Lifelike and Con-Cor E7B's on Kato chassis. Works pretty darn good. Have a good one, Wolf[/quote] Thank for the tip. I just hope the colors match closely.
Burlington used passenger pilots on most of their F units after the FTs. Note how the area around the coupler forms a smooth slope with the nose. Originally, they had closing clamshell covers that would totally hide the coupler. Most F units had the area around the coupler (the "pilot") notched inward like the DRGW unit shown here. That was refered to as the Freight Pilot.
Other than "the Queen Mary" E2, the SP did also have E7s. These are what pulled the Shasta Daylights when introduced in 1949. Smokebox
I'd go for Undecs. I really wish them luck. Maybe by the time I have more cash I can pick up a fleet.
Smokebox, You are correct. I was refering to the current Kato offerings. I should have included the good 'ol E7's. Which had the only B units in SP's E unit fleet. Sorry to confuse, Wolf
Would you say that the notched area on the Freight Pilot constitutes what the person who wrote the Wiki article on pilots calls an anticlimber? (last paragraph of article).
Hi Lownen, The anticlimer has the black stripe just above the pilot area. (on the Rio Grande unit) Have a good one, Wolf
The correct terminology for the EMD pilot styles is Open (aka the freight pilot) and Enclosed (passenger). The CB&Q, NYC, PRR, GN were big users of the "Enclosed" pilot; the ATSF was almost exclusively a user of the "Open" job. The assignment of the locomotive had no real bearing to what type of pilot was applied. The pilots were options and railroads ordered the ones that they thought they should have. Originally, the Enclosed Pilot was thought to be necessary to cover up the ugly front coupler (they were equipped with doors... on the early E through the mid-production of E7 units a flush door because the couplers retracted into the draft gear to clear the face of the pilot, and later on a "clamshell" style that allowed the door to close over the fixed coupler). From the late E7 onwards and the F3 the Enclosed Coupler was an option to the Open coupler pilot of which pattern was first seen on the F2. The FT pilot was an earlier version of the design but different. The parts for the Enclosed and Open pilots were identical for all E and F Units and were interchangeable. In fact, there was a way of retrofitting the Open pilot to earlier E units and the IC, SOU, SP and UP among others did so. There were other pilots (an early enclosed pilot without doors, and a "universal" pilot that was semi-enclosed) but they are limited in application and not standard like the Open and Enclosed models. The clamshell doors of the Enclosed pilot were proven to be a maintenance headache and were removed by most railroads.... some units were retrofitted with the Open style. On the CB&Q they lasted until the early 1960s with the doors on; the advent of TTX flats proved to be a problem, the extended couplers fouled the doors and they were quickly removed along with enlarging the opening around the coupler. All Q freight and passenger units (E and F) had Enclosed Pilots except for the FTs and F2s which had the Open styles they were delivered with. The Anti-Climber on EMD E and F units is a separate part and is not a component of the Pilot (the ridged structure around the nose straddling the Sill or bottom of the Carbody). The Pilot bolts on underneath the Anti-Climber. The "crease" in the Open pilot is a sort of anti-climber but AFAIK was there primarily to provide additonal strength to the pilot. Charlie Vlk
Thanks for the history Charlie. Can we give you some of the credit for Kato getting the CB&Q F3's correct?
