My latest locomotive purchase is this AHM GP. I needed a little TLC but after a cleaning and oiling, it is a great runner.
My latest locomotive purchase is the "could not resist" Atlas Santa Fe B40-8. The ATSF has always been my favourite railroad, so I decided to collect one.....or two....or.....
I have an ancient new in box athearn chessie system sd40 with all the detail parts which is pretty much going to be my first real detailing project. Sorry for the terrible photo quality
Here is a P2K SP GP60 #9735, I got a while back, for a descent price. When It got here is saw why, the plastic sunshade were superglued upside down on the cab. Had to whittle and sand all that off touch up the paint reinstall Brass shades. Replaced the antennas with DW metal long and short Sinclair antennas. Added a PSC horn w/bracket some more details, decals. There must have been issues with the cooling fans of these at one time or another, seems everyone I have ever seen in its later version of their respective paint schemes have replacement cooling fans, I popped a couple mine off, and painted one primer, one Black reinstalled to reflect same. A friend of mine helped me design and make a constant light board, thats really two kits on one board, one bidirectional for the step lights and directional for the head and ditch lights, put a micro slide switch in it to turn the head/ditch lights off, I still like using bulbs, I know its old school, but I enjoy the looks. And I have a bunch of them
Athearn. Dual geared Geep, oh, 1957-ish. Look at those gearboxes. Machined, oillite bearings, screwed together with 2-56 screws. Dave
D&RGW 3154 Here is a P2K GP60, Much the same as the SP unit, Replaced the antennas with DW metal long and short Sinclair antennas. Added a PSC horn w/bracket some more details, decals. I have heard different stories about why the Silver stripes were added to this particular unit. There must have been issues with the cooling fans of these at one time or another, seems everyone I have ever seen in its later version of their respective paint schemes have replacement cooling fans, I popped these off, and painted them primer, reinstalled to reflect same. A friend of mine helped me design and make a constant light board, thats really two kits on one board, one bidirectional for the step lights and directional for the head and ditch lights, put a micro slide switch in it to turn the head/ditch lights off, I still like using bulbs, I know its old school, but I enjoy the looks. And I have a bunch of them. The first three images are of My version of DRGW 3154 the 3,4,5th images are pictures I took of it in Grand Junction and Denver Someone had a whole pocket full of "High Voltage" stickers. Thanks for looking..
I picked up this life like dockside at a train show for $3.00 because it did not run. Got it home and cleaned it up a bit and greased it. It worked but the gear on the axle would spin and not move the locomotive. From a donor engine I was able to replace the entire wheel set with gear. Put it on the track and it runs like it is brand new. I can get it down to very low speeds.
My LOTW this week is an Athearn GP9 with the MKT road name. It need some TLC - horn & handrails. I think I will leave the sun faded paint alone.
This consolidation is one of my favorites. It is a PFM brass locomotive. I have had it for over 20 years. I modeler up here in Montana was in need of because he had to move out of state for a job and made an offer I couldn't refuse. It was an unpainted Santa Fe locomotive. I painted it and lettered it for my railroad. It is one of the smoothest running steam locomotives I have seen. Absolutely silent and an excellent puling locomotive for a steamer. Years back I did have PFM sound in it but removed the sound when I dropped the PFM control unit. Sure would like to find a few more like this one.
TRAMP: Good to hear about the Dockside, I am working on one right now; also I like the "sun faded" MKT CHET: Great loco, really sharp; also the whole scene top notch!
I didn't drop drop it, I discontinued using it, sorry. Where I had it mounted, I was continually bumping into it. I would probably have bumped into it no matter where where it was mounted. Also, it was getting about impossible for find the sound units for the locomotives and I was having to build my own. The layout was also moving forward and I was able to start doing a lot more switching and really needed a walk around throttle. The PFM control system is fine, and if someone wants it, we can make a deal. One thing that I did like about the PFM sound is the way you could "modulate" the whistle. Growing up with railroaders, I found that I could identify some of the engineers by the way he used his whistle. Each one had their own sound.
